November 15th Reflection - Maya Thiart

All of the readings for today had a distinct and interesting theme of language, specifically that of the Japanese language and people’s relationship to it.

My favorite story of the week was “The Great Passage”. It was almost inspiring to know that there was someone so passionate about what people would largely consider a mundane topic and commonplace and yet still take great care in dealing with dictionaries. People who were seen as weird or strange by others found meaning and joy in the often  forgotten and everyday-ness of dictionaries, and how words are used in real life. I saw a lot of similarities between the protagonists of “War Bride” and “The Great Passage”. Both characters deeply care about words, although the one in War Bride holds them close to her chest, and is more fascinated in the actual sound of the word, rather than the meaning itself.

“Poor Aunt” is a bit of a confusing story, but I think its overall message is about how despite words being “just words”, their meanings and usages can manifest into real emotions and physical responses to people. The main character repeats again and again that the “thing” on their back was just a poor aunt, a concept of words, but people they encounter, from their real estate agent to their friend, visualized something tangible. There might be more to a hidden meaning of sorts— maybe the poor aunt represents what they pity or feel worst about, but it shows how people’s fears and desires can ascribe realness to simple words.

Mine Mizumura’s “The Fall of Language in the Age of English” was a fascinating read, albeit a bit sad to think about the future of literature. She propositions that non-English literature is not only at a disadvantage but actively discouraged in the time that English is being used as a lingua franca. Obviously scholars and writers want their works to be seen and reviewed my the most people, and the normalization of English on the online sphere and its dominance in media only further encourages that.

I wasn’t so much a fan of the story “The Emissary”, because I wasn’t sure how it related to the theme relative to the other stories of the week, although the naming conventions of locations certainly seemed to be key. The naïveté of the main character for some parts of the story were frustrating to read; rather than feeling curious he felt moreso ignorant.

11/15 - Miguel

I am glad there were fewer stories this week and the fact that the theme/topic for this week was language made me very excited. For “War Bride” it was a bit confusing to me in terms of the message of the story(?) I could tell the story itself was sad and that it was talking about words/language and how the protagonist basically doesn’t speak in order to not hurt others…or at least thats what I got. This is also is how I felt towards the next story, “A Poor Aunt Story” as in I was confused. The concept of what a “poor aunt” is, is what had me in a loop. Is a poor aunt just someone/something people avoid out of pity…? That’s what I got from the story at least, but also the way “poor aunt” transfers and all that just had me taking a step back and rereading parts. Now moving on from the confusion, “ The Great Passage”, I liked this story and the fact that it’s about dictionary making, like it’s a passion I wouldn’t expect someone to have. This story was also easier to read after the last two, it was also a different vibe from the pity and sad to a more lively and fun(?) feeling. “The Emissary” so this reading goes back to me being a bit confused, but I just think it was hard for me to wrap around this sort of world that the author had created like at times I was just lost in trying to grasp what exactly is happening to people here. “The Fall of The Language in the Age of English” at first when I saw the, not warning but the comment on it being written 16 years ago I thought it would be more about the kind of language used and not the kind of mindset of the author. But also the reading brings up points I agree with the change of the internet and its influence on people. I feel nowadays because the internet is so accessible and it’s just part of the modern life the change it brings will only keep coming. As technology advances it will bring newer experiences from older generations. It is sad to me how nowadays I feel people don’t really enjoy reading or at least from seeing all these IPad kids and all on the internet… 

Cindy's 11/15 blog post

Cindy/Jiahan's November 15th reading blog post:

War Bride: This is a melancholic, surrealistic and symbolic story (maybe symbolic?). And it is a difficult reading for me (◞‸◟) because I am uncertain about its message, so I could only guess: I don't know what exact meaning does the combo words "War Bride" have, but I come up with two possible interpretations: firstly, (I looked it up) the term "War Bride"(戦争の花嫁、ウォーブライド） usually refers to Japanese women who were married to American men and immigrated in the United States after the Pacific War, so maybe our female protagonist encountered it through a historical textbook while she's in school and adapted this word to herself as she liked it aesthetically, such that it then becomes symbolic throughout the entire narrative? (symbolic in the way that she marries to her lifelong ideal that she shall no longer utter a single word, by which she will never disrupts another's eternity by her speech, such that she alienates and makes herself a stranger to human society around her which relies on words and daily communication, and infuses herself spiritually to the entire world, the sun, the horizon, the sky, and the ground). Secondly, the combo "War Bride" could be chose and used simply because that there is no meaning to the word itself, and that's the best and crucial part because a word that has meanings are more likely to hurt people, or to impact people, on account of which, our protagonist prefers words that have no meanings to those that have. But should we take a critical view of the story or should we just feel it instead of understanding it? It is admittedly true that by keeping one's silence, nothing hurt could be inflicted, but on the other hand, word and languages themselves lose their meaning if people no longer talk to each other, furthermore, faithful emotions and love could not be conveyed, too. In this respect, it is sad to speak no more, but it is also extremely gentle（極めて優しい） to decide to hold one's tongue evermore. And her brittle eyes open more and more. She begins to focus more on the sight when she lets go of sound and speech. This transition is also quite interesting.☺️⊂((・x・))⊃

A "Poor Aunt" Story: This is another Murakami Haruki's short story and I think that I like it as a whole, but the scenario that the weary mother reproaches her daughter and says in her fury that "you are not part of the family any more" lingers powerfully in my mind and makes me feel so sad. The nameless first-person narrator wants to write a story about a poor aunt, who is always there but being ignored all the time, seeming to have no business with her surrounding society at all. Lonely, and banal, to the extent of incurring others' impatience and dislike. But such people exist and the narrator wants to write about them as a group. By doing which, his friend suggests that it means to take up certain responsibility to help this specific group in his writing. (which I understand as making readers be aware of the "poor aunt" surrounding them and encouraging an effort to be more caring and patience towards them.) The enigmatic part is that the certain "poor aunt" that the narrator wants to write about begins to take up a form and literally, stays on the narrator's back but transforms into different things for different observers. What does this supposed to refer? I am not sure but in order to answer this, I regard it as a necessity to talk about the moment when this mysterious "poor aunt" suddenly disappears after the narrator gets off the train. When the narrator witnesses an unpleasant scenario occurs between a mother and her two children, he is glued to his spot, hesitant to offer help fearing an opposite outcome, and finds out how feeble he actually is with his two hands when someone is truly in need of a certain kind of comfort, he is much disturbed and gets off the train, finding suddenly that the "poor aunt" on his back has gone. This makes me feel that the "poor aunt" can never be a real existence and it is something as the narrator says, a "conceptual thing". I think that the "poor aunt" is an incarnation of a benevolent writer's mind which concerns about societal depression, loneliness, sadness, and inferior groups, wishing to offer certain help with his brush or pen, in other words, through the power of words and stories. But on finding out that he cannot even help to comfort a wounded elementary school girl, he began to be in doubt with himself and his ability of truly helping others with his literature. Thus this benevolent feeling or mind falls short due to his inconfidence, and never puts itself together into a story that could be circulated, hoping to make a change for a group identified as "poor aunt". But maybe he is talk about subconsciousness again? If that's the case, I am looking forward to hear more about it in class.(๑╹ω╹๑ )♡

The Great Passage: This is a really cute story! ( ＾∀＾)What a beautiful and warm team is the Dictionary Editorial Department! ( ^ ^ )/🍻I like how Akita finds real value in Majime as a born lexicographer and guides him into his most suitable vocation in life. I also begin to understand how passionate and hard-working dictionary contributors are as they develop, edit, and put together a dictionary through this story. And I think that this is really something valuable in today's world, where everything is so quick and people being impatient and anxious all the time, striving for living and being money-oriented. I remember when I was an elementary schooler in China, I really enjoyed looking up unfamiliar words in dictionaries by Chinese alphabet or by radicals and characters part, but how long have been since I last used a printed paper dictionary! And I am surprised to find out that I seemed to forget the way of how to use a Chinese dictionary, which makes me feel so nostalgic, shocked, and a little melancholic. Nowadays, we can simply look up words in google or by an online dictionary, such as merriam-webster. It almost seems like printed paper dictionary are disappearing in our lives. But this short story makes me think: Dictionary is not only used to explain the meaning of a word, but to help people stretch the limitation of a language and have a chance to express themselves in the clearest way. It is not only a tool, but also a guide that leads us among the deep ocean of words. But I never think in this respect before. I should start using printed dictionaries more!٩( 'ω' )و

The Fall of Language in the Age of English: This is the first treatise we read for the semester, written in 2008. But I resonate（すごく共感できる） with her arguments a lot and I think that they can be applied in 2024, too. She talks about that a computer translation will deprive the original fun of the text, which I strongly agree. When it was October back then and Mulgar Library in our school BU has a selection of spooky tales such as Lovecrafts and so on displayed as October reading. And me and my aunt frequented there, picking up a horror story to read during the nights. Nonetheless, since my aunt is not used to read in English, so she used a translation app to translate the whole page into Chinese as she read and she got bored within half an hour every time. On our way back home, as we shared our reading(our daily horror story hehe), she complains to me about how badly those computer-generated translations are, such that they lack any sense of beauty and make her reading absolutely boring, even intolerable. I feel sorry for her and reflect back on this, even 16 years has past after Mizumura wrote this treatise, yet machinery translations are still done badly nowadays. We might as well have some confident ground to be assured that there are human efforts in humanity studies that an ai or a computer cannot replace since they can not read in-between the lines. (文脈を読めない）。Another thing that I really agree with this treatise is the argument she made that it is not problematic about the simple fact that English has become the sole international language in the 21st century, but what is causing worries is that because of the popularity and universality of the English language in online library and the academia, bilingual scholars are inclined to write true literature only in English rather than write in their mother tongue, which causes a gradual deprivation of serious literature in those diverse national languages and produces a blank such that future generation of (let's say, Japan) lack an approach to the age before them, such as the effect that Natsume Sōseki's text have in bringing people back to the Meiji Period. Mizumura's mentioning of Natsume Sōseki reminds me of another Japanese author, Kafū Nagai, which I want to make a reference here, since he chooses to write about Old Edo period and buildings in his time deliberately in his novels, too.a( ´∀｀)

November 15 reading -Jaxon

 I didn't get what "War Bride" was trying to express. I found it a little hard to follow, and I only knew it was trying to discuss something with the power of words, which is also discussed in "A Poor Aunt Story." I don't see the type of people, "poor aunt," described in the story, but it seems the poor aunt on the back is kind of something that can trigger people's memory, which has similar traits to the poor aunt. They are not hated but avoided and don't want to face.  I wondered why his companion didn't see anything. Maybe it's because she already has a "poor aunt?" I really like the scenes on the suburban train. I felt so bad about the girl, and I wondered why the girl was blamed so hard. I don't like annoying kids and the boy who took the hat is almost exactly the typical figure I don't like.

I used a physical dictionary when I was in primary school, and I think I have never ever seen someone who is interested in making or editing a dictionary. When I started to learn English as my second language, I found good definitions of words are important for studying a language. I used an electronic dictionary in high school, and it provided very simple and one-sided explanations for the words I looked up, which made me misunderstand a lot of words in the past. I like the example of "dog" at the beginning, I wonder how is that part being translated from Japanese to English.

I can still see a strong Yoko Tawada's features from "The Emissary." There is a lot of emphasis on the change of language, like changes in expressions and the forbidden of English. The setting is interesting, as always. I think Tawada focuses a lot on the relationships between cities and the countryside. Tokyo became a city that not everyone dreams of moving to anymore, although it still keeps some features. Okinawa and Hokkaido seem to be more independent since the word "immigrant" was used.

The idea in "The Fall of the Language in the Age of English" is fascinating. I definitely feel kids in the next generation are not reading literature as we did in the past since they have more options. Especially in America, I can feel the power of English that helps connect all the people in the States together. The idea that Natsume Soseki will write in English is arguable. I agree with the part that says not everyone can have time and put effort into learning another specific language. 

November 15 Melissa LaRochelle

 War Bride: I'm not really into this story. It's a bit confusing to me so I don't really know what to make of it. At first I thought that her not wanting to speak was out of fear of hurting others with her words but then she shifted to not wanting to impact their "eternity" at all? I don't know, it was a tad too abstract for me to understand.

A Poor Aunt Story: Okay so the confusion continues. I guess I am mostly confused by this concept of a "poor aunt". I assume it is a person or thing that you feel sorry for but you kind of just don't want to deal with because it's a bummer? Still not understanding the attaching to his back though. I thought maybe he was slowly turning into this "poor aunt" type of existence. His friends didn't want to be around him anymore and strangers avoided him too. Then I thought the poor aunt being on his back was a symbol for writers block about the topic he wanted to write about. That she disappeared when he was ready to write about her. I don't know honestly haha.

The Great Passage: I liked this story a lot. I thought it was heartwarming to see the passion the speaker has for words and the life he created with it. And for him to find someone with that passion to carry on what he loved is also satisfying. It is a deal different from the previous two stories. It makes sense. We have a clear story about someone looking for a successor in a niche field. It was heartwarming.

The Emissary: Okay, back to being slightly confused. So is this a world where everyone lives very long or is it that people die and become ghosts and carry on as normal because they still interact with the world? The speaker mentioned he couldn't die and at one point, when buying postcards, talked about how he bought an umbrella to shield from the sun despite his transparent skin. I was wondering if they are just frozen in time at one point and carry on. But this is distressing because you have to deal with feeling left behind by the world as it continues to change. It can be lonely watching the world you know fade in to obsolescence.

The Fall of The Language in the Age of English: It is interesting how this was written 16 years ago. I wonder how the writer would feel about the fact I read it on my computer haha. The internet has certainly become a very important part of modern life. I also find it sad how physical books aren't the average preference but I personally do still prefer reading a physical book or textbook, as someone who grew up with technology. Speaking as someone who doesn't like change, I will admit that it is inevitable. While the rise of the internet has made a lot of thing convenient, I will admit it's made other tasks far too easy. There should be some encouragement to put in a little effort sometimes. 

November 15 Reading Reflection - Kaito

War Bride - I found this story very upsetting. The way the protagonist views words and language makes me think it stems from bad experiences and trauma, and the way loss, grief, change is an endless process. Parts of it made me think it was difficult for her to acknowledge this experience and that giving a name to it and speaking about it would make it too hard to confront. It was very sad to see how she made herself as non obtrusive as possible, always considering other people first, and ultimately being abandoned and lost inside of herself.

A "Poor Aunt" Story - I really liked how this explored the topics of identity, recognition, and writing in such a surreal way. I particularly liked this line from the protagonists friend, "(...) taking on responsibility for something means offing it salvation. I wonder, though, whether you are capable of that just now. You don't even have a real poor aunt." That really struck me, as it can be difficult to find ways towards genuine understanding of other people's situations and realities. I think it's a good topic to be explored in the realm of writing from an author's point of view. It was clever that the "poor aunt" appeared differently to everyone who looked at it, and it being a reflection of pity. I wonder what happened on the train, if maybe the "poor aunt" somehow transferred to the little girl as it seemed the protagonist pitied her. I wonder why he called his companion to make sure she was alive.

The Great Passage - I think this was my favorite reading this week. I would love to read the rest of the book, but this beginning section was so fun. It is quite a niche interest to write about dictionary making, and I love seeing these characters who feel so strongly about it. I thought the bit about his name, "Majime", was fun, and I loved seeing all the different ways words could be interpreted. Particularly with the first paragraph I'm interested in the original Japanese, as I'm unsure if these same phrases exist or if the original had different sayings.

The Emissary - The idea of language throughout this whole reading was so interesting, and how it related to generations of families and environmental changes in the world as well. The connections between this and her other work we read, Scattered All Over the Earth, are very apparent, and I find the way she explores these topics really wonderful. In this one in particular there is a sense of lost hope and stagnation, particularly with the health problems of the children, while there are also light moments of connection we see between Yoshiro and Mumei. The idea of Japan having an isolation policy and the effects of that are really intriguing, and I can't help but wonder about the state of the rest of the world. I also wonder about why the English language is banned, as well as mentions of other countries and things along those lines. I guess to avoid the feeling of isolation as much as possible and not have people think about the outside world?

The Fall of Language in the Age of English - This is clearly a very different read than anything else we've read, and it took me a few tries to get into it just because of its non-fiction and academic nature. Once I was able to though, I thought a lot of what was said about languages and particularly English was very eye-opening. I think in some ways English is even more widespread in some ways than in 2008, while at the same time the prevalence of the Internet has provided connection to other languages in a way that hadn't before been possible. I think literature has remained highly lauded, in languages other than English too, but I can completely understand Mizumura's thoughts and it is possible it will continue down that path. One thing I kept wanting to ask while reading is what timeline she had in mind? When talking about the "fall of literature" in general and in other countries, how many years in the future was she thinking that would happen? I'm also really curious what her thoughts are on all of this now, in 2024.

 

Nov. 15 Reading Reflection - Shi Shi

I enjoyed this week’s reading and their attention to human language. Overall, they made me reflect a lot on my own connection to language and the kinds of interpretations and interactions that are informed by my own perception and experiences.

War Bride: This story was very intriguing in how cautiously the narrator dealt with words and their implications. I didn’t really like how intentionally passive the narrator was, as I personally feel that words/language are a privilege to be used for expression. While her main argument seemed to be centered around the negative and harmful effect words can carry, I also think that words contain the authority of inspiring and performing good. The fact that her eyes grow and widen further and further made me interpret that negatively, as they could be absorbing bad information and events instead of good. Her passivity is also problematic in the sense that she, as a woman, takes on a submissive role where she actively chooses not to use her own voice and words.

A Poor Aunt Story: I liked this story a lot and how it made me think about how meaning is created differently for everyone. Having a “poor aunt” on your back that is interpreted differently by different people was an interesting way of demonstrating this phenomenon, as it deals with independent histories as well as shared connotations (in this case pity). I also liked how it described meaning as coming from participation from the reader/whoever is engaged with the words.

The Great Passage: I loved this story! This felt very lighthearted, and I enjoyed reading about someone so passionate about a pretty niche topic: dictionary making/editing. I also thought that the metaphor describing a dictionary as a ship crossing a sea of words was imaginative and inspiring, as it kind of suggests how new words could be discovered along the way.

The Emissary: This story was a bit confusing for me to follow, but it reminded me of “Memory Police” and Yoko Tawada’s other story “Scattered All Over The Earth”. I think she constructs these dystopian futures very well, but it takes a while to fully see the world she creates clearly. It was also interesting how she considers how lack of foreign influence affects culture and national identity.

The Fall of Language in the Age of English: This was very philosophical and quite a different read than what we’ve read throughout the semester. It offers an interesting perspective on how human nature can be better understood, and how technology and language dominance affects our own perception of the world.