fandomhigh | Foreign Literature in Translation, 1/12, Period 2

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foreign lit

Foreign Literature in Translation, 1/12, Period 2

Dream sits cross-legged on his desk as students arrive. Once they're present, he begins.

"Good morning. I hope you all had time to read the story you were assigned on Tuesday, "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant. In class today, I would like for you to discuss your reactions to the story with me and with your classmates.

We are going to stay in France for a few classes. As homework for Tuesday's class, I would like for you to read as much of Albert Camus' work "The Stranger" as possible; I'm handing out a synopsis and study guide. The book tells the story of a young man whose emotions are judged "wrong" by society, and is considered a classic of the Existentialist school.

I also have a very tentative syllabus for the term, which will of course be updated and altered as class progresses. I welcome your comments on it as a whole.

Creature Languages follows this class, but I will be in my office this afternoon."

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Nadia glanced back and forth between Sydney and Elizabeth, just barely managing to follow the conversation. She'll have to start setting her alarm earlier so she has time to get coffee or something in the mornings.

"Well, I think it says that the French at that time were pretty trusting and optimistic. Just look at the ending. Nowadays we're all so cynical that we assume something like that is going to happen. Everyone is running around, buying insurance," she nods to Elizabeth, "and general suspecting the worst from people and from fate. We figure Murphy's law is always going to jump up and get us. We look at this ending and we're like, yeah, saw that coming, because everything we read or see on TV has the same kind of ending going on. But for this story to have lasted this long, it had to have been shocking when it was first published. So the culture couldn't have had the same . . . I don't know, fear of impending irony that we have."

"Excellent points, all of you," Dream says.

Then, to Nadia: "Why do you think the ending doesn't seem surprising any longer? What has changed?"

Nadia jumped slightly. "Um." She shook her head. "I don't know. Maybe the internet?" She laughs slightly. "Maybe it's the copy-cat thing. You know, people read a story like this, they think 'ooo, that's good. I can do that,' and they write the same thing, over and over again, until we all just expect ironic twists. It would almost be more of a twist now if a story didn't have a twist ending."

Elizabeth nodded. "I know what you mean. I have to promise to be quiet when I'm watching TV with people, because it's just "Saw that coming, saw that coming, saw that coming," she shrugged. ~~"I even managed to predict the turkey and spork."~~ "Entertainment nowadays is just a formulaic collection of cliches, or so it seems."

"I don't know about that," Nadia shrugged. "I don't really watch a lot of tv. But everyone figures, hey, if it seems good, it must be fake." She grinned. "Or, you know, if a bunch of people gather to talk about being bit by gremlins, they'll get bit by gremlins."

Elizabeth giggled. "But sometimes you can forgive irony when it's amusing," she said. "And sometimes the best stories are actually real. I think sometimes people can forget that."

Nadia nodded. "At this school? Definitely."

"How are you finding this school so far?" She looked across at Sydney. "Both of you."

Nadia shrugged. "I'm doing okay."

"That's good. I found I took some time to adjust when I started. Where are you from?"

"Buenos Aires." She turned to Dream. "Which reminds me. Will we be doing any South American literature? I don't see any on the syllabus, but I was sort of hoping. . . ."

Dream turns to make a note on his pad. "We should," he admits. "15 weeks is far too little time to cover all of this world."

"Do you have a suggestion?"

Nadia shrugs. "What about The Motorcycle Diaries? Guevara was from Argentina. Or the works of Isabel Allende? Her father was once the President of Chile. Or Julia Alvarez, from the Dominican Republic."

More scribbling on Dream's notepad.

"I'll try to work one of those in, if I can. Thank you."

"You're welcome." Nadia blushes and hides this as well as a smile behind her hand. Thank you, Sophia, for making her read at the orphanage.

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Elizabeth nodded, smiling softly. "Yeah, it is the people who make it really. I know I'd have gone insane a long time ago without my friends."

"Exactly, Ms. Weir. True stories can best any fiction."

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Foreign Literature in Translation, 1/12, Period 2

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