who am i??

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Hi everyone!

I'm Deeba, and I made this blog for RMST 202 where I'll be putting my reflections and thoughts about the books I will be reading for this course. 

In the course introduction it was made clear that the Romance World isn't a real thing, and therefore it belongs to nobody and everybody at the same time. There also is no indication that the texts will be centred around romance in the feelings-y way either; hence the URL "Romance but not really." Truthfully, I find the grading structure of this course quite interesting and I've always wanted to make a blog but never really had anything to focus it on, so hopefully I'll be able to take the bull by the horns and carpe diem (insert all other vaguely-romance-derived phrases).

By the way, I'm in first year, hoping to major in International Relations and minor in Commerce. I didn't want to take a class in English Literature because that's what I've already studied before, and I chose this class because I like the breadth of the novel selection. 

My intentions are to read as many of the books on the list as I can, paying special attention to those that focus on the Spanish Civil War or its aftermath since I find that area of history very interesting. Among the themes that I expect to encounter through reading these books, I think the ones that most pique my interest are globalisation, colonialism and postcolonialism, revolution, and power. 

Going back to Romance Studies, I was very glad to see this course on the literature requirement list because as I said, I like the breadth of the text backgrounds. Having grown up in the UK, and done a couple years of high school here in Canada, I've mostly studied texts written originally in English. I imagine that this course will offer some insight into the gateway of translation and how important it can be in expanding your horizons in the literary sense. Either way, I'm definitely looking forward to what this term holds in store.

I hope to write something here worth reading, but realistically I'll look back in a few years and laugh :)

Comments

  1. Alyssa AlmerlingJanuary 12, 2022 at 5:17 PM

    Hi Deeba! I love your blog post, it was very engaging and also funny! I also plan to read as many books as I can and I was kind of shocked when I found out what romance studies really is and not the lovey-dovey stereotypes we associate with romance today. I'm excited to expand my literature as well because I have only read english books and never anything translated. Hope you have a good week!

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  2. Suroor MansouriJanuary 16, 2022 at 5:19 PM

    Hey Deeba! I definitely agree with your post about the ambiguity of the Romance world. Catchy title too! Unlike you, I took this class on a whim without taking a look at the novels fully expecting to read soapy and sappy stories of forbidden love and happily ever afters. I was pleasantly disappointed but nonetheless I look forward to the readings and your thoughts on them as well :) Have a good one!

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