Notebook

After reading Notebook of a Return to the Native Land, I admit that I was a bit confused as to what the purpose of the novel was and its underlying meaning. I believe my main source of confusion stemmed from that way in which is was written. It was more of a long poem, or a mesh of differing thoughts with no ouvert connection. It wasn’t written with the same structure that my mind was trained to comprehend.

Initially, because of this unique style of writing unfamiliar to me, I wasn’t blown away by the book. To be honest, when a classmate asked me what I thought, I responded with “I didn’t understand it. So, I assume it’s brilliant.” However, after the lecture given by Dr. Sol, I began to understand it a bit better. Indeed, this style of writing served a purpose. I suppose the best description of it would be in its title: a “Notebook.” This made more sense to me. After all, my journals and notebooks are full of thoughts without fluidity or consistent structure. I just write what I feel, perhaps with a hope of understand myself better, resolving an internal struggle of mine or to simply play around with different ideas. After making this connection, Césaire’s search for personal identity through his writing helped in my comprehension.

In conclusion, I find post-colonial literature fascinating… culturally and historically fascinating in that this time period consists of a grand collision of completely different people. And through their writing, I am better able to understand their struggles and individual perspectives.