Conclusion - I can't believe it's endinggg

 I can’t believe that this is the final blogpost for Romance studies which is actually crazy to think about. When I was telling my friends (most of them either in STEM or are engineers) about taking a class for my elective called Romance Studies, they thought I was taking a class about romance books and that I was analyzing love languages in this class. I think it’s really funny because when I was younger, I thought romance studies was actually about romance and didn’t know that romance languages existed. I think it was interesting that the lecture touched on the theme of patterns of commonality and difference because I definitely did see similar themes throughout some of the books that we have read. For instance, Nadja and the Shrouded Woman elements of love were touched upon. However, it was from different contexts of love. The Shrouded Woman was following a woman who was in between life and death, and was seeing her loved ones come to visit her while she was in the funeral casket. On the other hand, in Nadja, the main character  used the woman, Nadja, as a form of coping mechanism as he was going through a rough patch in his life with his failing marriage. It made me wonder if Professor Beasley-Murray structured it in that way, so that we could ponder and reflect on these stories whilst making connections to each of them. I agree that the theme of growing up is in a lot of texts that we have covered throughout the course. Some people may think that this is repetitive, but as a 22-year-old, I think that it is interesting to reflect on how a person’s childhood impacts their adulthood. In Combray, I thought that it was interesting that the narrator’s memories was jumbled up and he was disoriented. He could only remember fragments of his memories and the darkness of the night was paralleled to how he was unsure about his memories. However, his happier memories of him eating the madeleine were so vivid. Some people may have this perception that childhood memories are not important because they happened a long time ago. However, I agree with this notion because I think your childhood memories shape who you are. Some of my most precious memories are from my childhood. I agree that Romance Studies is a minor literature. This is because literature features various works and texts. Romance studies focuses on literatures from the romance languages. My question : What do you think you will carry with you from this class?

Comments

  1. Meta - Sol April 7, 2026 at 8:14 PM

    Yes, there are clearly resemblances among the novels such as growing up.
    “It made me wonder if Professor Beasley-Murray structured it in that way, so that we could ponder and reflect on these stories whilst making connections to each of them.” Ask Jon tomorrow!

    See you tomorrow.

    Julián.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jon Beasley-MurrayApril 7, 2026 at 8:14 PM

    "It made me wonder if Professor Beasley-Murray structured it in that way, so that we could ponder and reflect on these stories whilst making connections to each of them."

    For sure, though you never know exactly what connections will emerge... that depends quite a lot on you guys, and what you notice.

    "as a 22-year-old, I think that it is interesting to reflect on how a person’s childhood impacts their adulthood."

    And not just as a 22-year-old, perhaps! Though later you may also want to reflect on how (say) your university experience also shapes what you go on to do... personally, I think too many people think they already have to have their lives mapped out at 22 (or so), but one of the things I hope to show in this class is that we should always remain open to the new, to new experiences and possibilities, some of which can come to us via literature.

    Anyhow, thanks for all your contributions!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Fatima MudassarApril 7, 2026 at 8:32 PM

    Not gonna lie I also thought Romance Studies was about romance at first 💀 but I really liked your point about patterns across the books, especially with love showing up in different ways.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sydney HyndmanApril 8, 2026 at 10:54 PM

    Hi Hasfariza!

    I think that romance studies being about romance books is a very common misconception, and was one that I also fell victim to prior to joining this course. Over the semester, it was amazing to gain insight into what romance studies truly entails. Now we can walk away and confidently tell our peers what this area of study actually consists of!

    ReplyDelete

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