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Each week, you will respond to two of your classmates’ posts. Again, try
to stay focused on writerly concerns, not literary. Respond to the post
in a concrete, engaged way, referring to specific points (or questions)
your classmate has made as meaningfully as you can. If you are
responding to a creative response, try to address not just your
classmate’s text itself, but the way or ways in which it is in
relationship to the original novel. Please make sure to respond to a
classmate who hasn’t yet received a response (or has only received one)
rather than one who has (or has already received two or more). 200-250
words.
Our reading this week of Roberto Bolano’s “Little
Lumpen Novelita” was quite a journey for me. Honestly, I had to give it a
second read because the first time around, I found it tough to keep up
with the story’s rhythm. On my second dive, I decided to start from the
very beginning, pondering over the title itself. The term “Lumpen” was
new to me, and after a bit of digging, I discovered it refers to someone
perceived as intellectually lacking and resistant to change. This
insight opened a whole new layer of understanding for me. Suddenly, the
narrative of the siblings who drop out of school and their entanglements
with a questionable duo started to resonate more profoundly. It was
like watching the pieces of a puzzle come together, revealing Bolano’s
masterful ability to blend surrealism, existential musings, and an
examination of what it means to be human, a blend of reality and
imagination.
What strikes me the most is how these kids, still
so young and impressionable, had to navigate through life’s complexities
without much guidance. It’s like they were thrown into the deep end,
expected to swim without being taught how. They turned to teach
themselves by watching game shows, sex tapes, and the world of
television – to fill in the gaps. It’s fascinating, yet heartbreakingly
sad, how they tried to piece together how life works through snippets of
what they saw on a television screen. “To learn how to make love,” as
her brother put it. It’s a strong reflection on how they’re stuck in
this limbo between reality and imagination, trying to make sense of it
all.
And then there’s this part about them attending
school, or rather, the lack of realization from others that they
weren’t. It makes me wonder about the system in place, especially being
set in Rome. Could it be a cultural difference, or perhaps a commentary
on how society sometimes fails to notice those slipping through the
cracks? It’s a lot to think about, and I can’t help but feel for Bianca
and her brother, trying to find their footing in a world with two
“friends… one from Bologna, the other from Libya or Morocco” (Bolano
17). Bianca and her brother find themselves in a precarious situation,
navigating the challenges of sudden orphanhood and financial instability
and knowing what is good for them. Bianca spent time exploring her
needs to exist in life she, “worked, did the shopping, cooked, watched
tv, and went with her brother to the video store” (Bolano 27). Pondering
what she did to survive made her feel like she was losing her mind, not
because she was crazy, but trying to examine their needs and find value
to their existence.
What really created the depth I was looking for
was how Bolano’s imagery of Bianca’s dreams added to her deep
exploration. We get to hear what Bianca was thinking and saying but what
is powerful is how Bolano shifts readers to decipher her dreams and
with that the story becomes even more compelling. She dreamed of,
“having [her] own hair salon. [She] had reason to think that the future
was in small salons, small boutiques, small record stores, tiny
exclusive bars” (Bolano 5). Of course, she would think of having
something small and simple. This is where she liked to be away from her
home browsing where “no one knew anything about [her]” (Bolano 13).
Another dream she experiences is “walking in the desert, dying of
thirst…a white parrot that kept saying ‘I can’t fly’…and [she] could
hardly walk” (Bolano 12). In this place, she
might sense her vulnerability, yearning to be whisked away, yet she
feels undeserving of even a bird’s attention. One of the last dreams she
had Maciste was her boyfriend walking around Campo’de Fiori with her.
She saw him for who he was fat, old, clumsy and blind. This dream opened
her eyes, and she realized what she was doing. She became aware of her
reality. She finally got the courage to tell the two guys to leave their
home. She did not need the dirty money to survive, she needed to do the
right thing.
Her dreams torment her and spoke to her, ensnared
in relentless pressure she cannot evade. Readers can have different
interpretations of her dreams and that is what made Bolano’s writing so
powerful. Bianca had many facets and only the reader could see what they
wanted to believe.
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