I'm enjoying the discussions on Cion. I really liked the prompt yesterday (Tuesday) as a lead in to magical realism. It was astonishing to hear all the stories how weird co-incidences and meeting others in odd places occurred. Maybe "odds" aren't really so random as mathematical principles show. It was a great prompt to lead into how we can accept strange things in our lives but not be so open in our reading.
The whole genre of magical realism is new to me. I had read this book looking at it from a historical novel approach. I just accepted the "magicalness" in the book as part of the charm. I may have been able to accept it because I've read and love the C.S. Lewis novels, which must fit this genre. I am interested to learn more about the genre, other books that might be of interest to me or my students.
I also really enjoyed the field trip to the ridges. I had never been there before and it really made an impression on me. The actual buildings with the bars on the windows. I could almost feel the presence of those inmates. Then, visiting the cemetery was a profound experience as well. Seeing the name "Mahlon" on an actual tombstone there was interesting, as was the graves that made a circle toward the west end. I could see Toloki mourning in the center of the circle. It also made me wonder if the few stones across the gully were separated because they were negroes. It was a sad experience, and gave me more insight into the story as well as history.
2 comments:
Hey, Toni Morrison is being read in some schools around Columbus . . . If you enjoyed _Cion_, you should check out Morrison's _Beloved_ (a ghost story in Cincinnati). Let me know what you dig up too!
In the book Mahlon's mother's maiden name was Tobias...Margaret Tobias. I wonder if that was the name of a real person?I was looking at the names on tombstones too. Also, the man that was the slave tracker,that had cornered Nicodemis, his name was Tobias...suppose they were distant relatives?
Post a Comment