In this class, we moved onto discuss the aspects that reflect the way Calvino tried to describe Venice –
- Nature
- Reflection
- Symmetry
- Perspective
- Symbolism
- Change
- Duality
- Architecture
- Fantasy
- Realism
- Relation>Form
- Journey
- Transcendance
- People- Ways of being and Behaviour
After drawing reference from the writing style of Calvino and how he perceived the idea of Venice in his mind, we had an elaborate discussion on how we would write about a city. We specified certain criteria and then thought of the content that fits well under each category to finally understand how to describe a city. Thus is what we discussed-
- Memory- childhood, places
- Sensory perceptions- taste, touch, smell, vision, auditory
- Intuition- feeling, planning, objects and relation
- Emotion- attachments, routine, incidents, likes/dislikes
- Imagination- longing, net realistic, nightmare
- Belief- faith, institution superstition, value system
- Reason- purpose, comfort
- Language- metaphors, communication, understanding, body language, art, signs and symbols
Reflection-Discussing this made me realise how far I have come and how much I have learnt from the first seminar class. My observation and exploration lead me to think of the content under each category. For example, 7metaphors- because we had done a proper assignment on it in our first semester of seminar. I could relate and connect the dots.
The discussion was just a warm up exercise as our class assignment was to describe our dream city.
I called my dream city- The city of Heureux, the word means a feeling of content and satisfaction in French.
After showing my draft to my faculty and rectifying a correction, this is what I wrote-
When a man, rides a long time through materialistic and monetary gains, he longs for a city of Heureux. A city where people still have the time to have a meal together, at the cost of losing a few notes, where the idea of happiness and content is not valued on the basis of their bank balance or social status, where knowledge and courage are given more importance than success and diplomacy, where a man is able to understand the things that would “matter” in the end and learns to value them, while he is still breathing. Desiring and dreaming of a city where a man does not die so poor that all he has is money.
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