In spite of the context being different, everything about this graphic novel seems familiar to me: the characters, the places, etc. Maybe it's because I've known people like Peter: rational and negative at the same time. And I've just been to New York city, where part of the story happened.
I like very much this kind of comic, maybe more than manga, althought may be too soon to say that. Really I prefer longer graphic novels, and ones and based on real situations, with funny dialogues and beautiful drawings, like this one. If I were to make a comic without any doubt it would be one like this: funny and pensive. Although I don't like sad endings, and almost I cried this time.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Deogratias, a tale of Rwanda
We can think that a graphic novel is just a form of entertainment, works of science fiction or fantasy, but that is not always the case. Sometimes the stories are based in reality and we must remember that the reality can be better (or worse) than real life. This is the case of Deogratias, a tale of human horror. I don't remember being in such a state of anxiety and horror after reading a book, not even when reading horror stories.
It's strange to say, but I have to say that I really didn't like the story because it made me feel as though I was suffering the violence and the irrational injustices, but at the same time I have to recognize the ability of the author, Stassen, to show one of humanity's more difficult episodes in a simple way. After just a few minutes of reading, I got sucked in. While it was easy to come to a conclusion about the one of history's worst genocides, which had claimed about 800,000 lives, I don't know what to think about that poor "dog" and eponymous character Deogratias. I really don't know.
It's strange to say, but I have to say that I really didn't like the story because it made me feel as though I was suffering the violence and the irrational injustices, but at the same time I have to recognize the ability of the author, Stassen, to show one of humanity's more difficult episodes in a simple way. After just a few minutes of reading, I got sucked in. While it was easy to come to a conclusion about the one of history's worst genocides, which had claimed about 800,000 lives, I don't know what to think about that poor "dog" and eponymous character Deogratias. I really don't know.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Borges on Writing
Borges on Writing edited by Norman Thomas Di Giovanni, et al. Ecco.
Transcriptions of seminars Jorge Luis Borges gave at Columbia University in the early 1970s.
Transcriptions of seminars Jorge Luis Borges gave at Columbia University in the early 1970s.
Los 1001 años de la lengua española
Los 1001 años de la lengua española by Antonio Alatorre. FCE.
An interesting book about the history of the Spanish language. 1001 years is overspecific, which Alatorre acknowledges, but it's reasonable. Alatorre provides information about how the languages of the Celts, the Romans, the Visigoths, the Arabs, and others shaped what would eventually become Castillian, and how the language of the Castille region of Spain would influence and be influenced by other languages or dialects spoken in Iberia, ultimately resulting in the Spanish language as we know it today.
An interesting book about the history of the Spanish language. 1001 years is overspecific, which Alatorre acknowledges, but it's reasonable. Alatorre provides information about how the languages of the Celts, the Romans, the Visigoths, the Arabs, and others shaped what would eventually become Castillian, and how the language of the Castille region of Spain would influence and be influenced by other languages or dialects spoken in Iberia, ultimately resulting in the Spanish language as we know it today.
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