Historical Literature

      Franco Moretti's article, "Graphs, Maps, Trees," shows the benefits along with the drawbacks of the approaches of literature. The approaches are the different ways that literature can be established and viewed. He uses graphs to show the correlation of a quality between the different years. In addition, Moretti touches on the topics of novels and their prices, the different genres mentioned (epistolary, gothic, historical, etc.), and preferences that different genders might attribute to in the history of the novel.

      Moretti displays hard evidence in his writing where he shows graphs and maps. This is where his evidence comes into play and the statements he makes, he can prove. Literature can interpret as a historical phenomenon dealing with issues such as lifespan and politics. For instance, an issue was debated about the duration of time that a certain genre was "in" that points out the question, "why so short-lived?...because of politics again" (pg 84). Politics had seized the existence of it causing it to diminish and decrease in lifespan. History in terms had greatly influenced the whole purpose of how the advances of literature changed over time. Based on our knowledge and clear understanding, we can conclude that as time progresses, there are different aspects that influence the rate at the graphs showing the different genres range.  

      I believe that the drawback of this approach to literature is the aspect that it is not entirely a formal way of writing or a piece of evident work. In addition, the downside would be if a certain category in literature would survive. An example would be any chosen genre. The only way to keep a genre alive is when people keep reading it continuously because "Books survive if they are read and disappear if they aren't" (pg 82) due to lack of interest.

      I propose that the other interdisciplinary projects can combine with literature in a way where it can pronounce the meaning it has such as how to read a chart or the graphs and maps mentioned. The trees in this aspect would be the material used to make the maps and graphs that one uses for his or her own gain and purposes.

      Gary Shteyngart's SSTLS does in fact approach to the fact where history deeply embeds in the story as a whole. The act of reading was different in the story. People would "read" a text by scanning it for information. Most of the conversations done are by verballing to each other through the apparats. In literature, texts are suppose to be read and analyzed by the reader based on his or her own way of understanding the text that they have engaged in.

Are You My Butterfly?

The film, "M. Butterfly" deals significantly with the themes of the issues of gender, ethnicity, politics, and the history of arts. All of these themes are quite relevant in the story as a whole they are pieces that fit together perfectly to create this one masterpiece.

The gender roles portrayed in this film show the differentiation between men and women. It depicts that men are the breadwinners who go for the things they want. In this film, Rene was the man who held a steady job and went after what he wanted, such as Butterfly. Although this action was morally wrong, and that Rene was as married man, it did not stop him from finding true love. Song Liling, on the other hand who played the role of the woman known as Butterfly, was trying to stay pure in the beginning and keeping "her clothes on" and not showing any parts of "her" body. She had to be fully covered and that was how women were supposed to be.

Ethnicity is quite controversial and can be depicted in the film where in society, the white race is seen as more supreme over all else. It is more dominant and seen to be the one holding down all other forces and it is the one race to have all the power. In a way, this evidently relates to the political aspect of this film.

Politically, this deals with the fact that the whites are stronger and that they have a more powerful force. It has been this way for the longest time. Thus, society accepted the fact that they are the more dominant race. The film shows that in Beijing, the French has taken control over some areas and are using its forces to control all else. The most political part in this film would be all the times that the French diplomat, Rene, gave important pieces of information to the Chinese espionage know as Jeanette (Butterfly). Rene unconsciously convicts treason and goes to prison.

The history of art in this film is the opera "Madame Butterfly" that tells a story about a Japanese woman falling for the white man who later abandons her. This causes her to kill herself from all the pain and despair that he had caused. The twist was that at the end of the film, Rene dresses himself like a Japanese woman and commits suicide with a dagger. He was the Madam Butterfly in this round and decided to die because he has lost his lover.

The Many Things that Come with Love

 Romance is one of the themes associated in Gary Shteyngart’s novel, Super Sad True Love Story. It is about the growing love between two individuals and the extremities that one would go through for their significant other.

An example would be the part where Lenny was hanging out with his friends and they were streaming the emotions that he had for Eunice, the girl he fell in love with. Lenny “started to blabber about how much she meant to [him]” (p. 93) and started talking about how they hung out and of how she paid attention to him. This shows the qualities that he finds in a girl. Judging by what he says, one can tell that Lenny is a man of affection. He wants someone who would listen to everything he has to say and just be there for him whenever he needs her.

This passage shows the love that Lenny has for Eunice where he starts talking to himself, and making a mental note that he is “not going to screw this up… [he had] been given a chance to help the most beautiful woman in the world,” and the fact that he could “show her that adult love can overcome childhood pain” (p. 100). He wanted everything to be perfect so that she would love him the way he loved her. Lenny wanted to be everything he could be for this woman and he wants to prove this to her so she could overcome her pain and accept the love that he has to offer. This shows that people who are deeply in love with someone would do anything for that person because they would want that other person to feel happy.

Finally yet importantly, in the passage that says, “You’re really hurting me Grace…How can you judge her so quickly? How can you judge us?” (p. 163) shows the effort Lenny has put into defending Eunice. He went from questioning Grace on how she was able to judge Eunice then he added in the world “us” which shows the linkage he had made by being with his love. That word unifies the two and this implies that he is willing to defend her no matter what and that he would not put up with people whom do not accept the love between them.