jpvillanueva - JP's Microcuento club--El dios de las moscas
Hi everyone,
It's time to start reading for pleasure. Today's microcuento is Marco Denevi's El dios de las moscas.
At first it may look like a giant impenetrable block of text if you're not used to reading. Don't worry, it always does at first.
The thing about microcuentos is that they are:
- authentic Spanish by brilliant authors
- short, so you'll be able to finish it relatively quickly and get that sense of accomplishment, and
- compelling; every single word that the author has chosen in this short format is laden with meaning and symbolism, in that literary sense.
If you want to read this with me, please follow these steps:
1. print out the text, underline the words or phrases that you absolutely don't understand. Don't worry if it's a lot at first.
2. list the stuff you want to look up on a separate sheet of paper.
3. Using a patient native speaker, or a good dictionary (I recommend WordReference) go after the words and expressions you're not sure of. Take your time. Write your English notes on that separate list, NOT NOT NOT on the same page as the text. If you use the same page as the text, you're likely to skip the Spanish and just look at the English.
4. Once you've got all your words, re-read the text again for meaning.
5. Bring your questions/comments/insights to the comments section below.
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Comments (12)
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cool!!
Gracias JP. Esto es mi primer microcuento. Por eso, vamos a abrir el champán...virtual.
Creo que las moscas tienen mucho en común con los humanos pero, no os preocupéis, no usaré la palabra "metáfora". Para mí, esta historia tiene mucho que ver con "ciertas creencias populares". El dios de las moscas era otra mosca... "imaginaron a su dios" aficionado de Dawkins. Suena a la clave de un crucigrama.
Sin embargo, es obvio que todo el mundo cuenta con una idea muy distinita acerca del cielo. ¡Qué asco! Aprendí una nueva palabra en inglés también "carrion" pero espero no tener que utilizarlo demasiado.
¿La moraleja... ? Si hay una...
¿La fe es muy personal?
Dubhais
Recuerde el buitre que voló siempre con equipaje de carroña.
JP yeah short stories are a great idea. Manageable bytes ;-)
In La Ciudad de las Bestias I am a third of the way through, I have found about five and half thousand distinct spellings which actually means about one to two thousand words because nouns and adjectives come masculine/feminine-singular/plural and we all know how many verb forms there are. It looks daunting but it isn't that bad. I still have 9000 words I haven't seen yet out of 83,000 in the book. I suspect that about a third of those will be unique spellings and maybe half of those, new words.
I used to live at the table in front of the short story section of my H.S library.
Looks like we're doing great. You folks that are upper-intermediate and above, please continue the conversation in Spanish. I'm going to lead a little discussion of this microcuento in English for the intermediates and below, not because the discussion should be in English, but I realize this may be the first time some of you try a directed reading. You should be able to answer some of these questions, even if you didn't understand every sentence or word of the story. Here goes:
1. This reading can be divided into two main sections. Where do you draw the dividing line? Can you give a title to each section?
2. Find the sentence where the author lists different colors. Each color has a symbolic meaning in Western culture. Can you give each color's association? Bonus points if you can give the association in Spanish.
3. Find the section where Denevi lists descriptions which seem to be paired in opposites. Which religious tradition is being referred to in each description?
4. What is the point that Denevi is making when listing the opposing descriptions of the fly god? For that matter, what point is he trying to make in the first two lines of the story? Can you infer the narrator's own religious beliefs?
5. The second part of the story illustrates some concepts that seem to unify all fly religions, despite the diversity described in the first section. What is the joke (or the point) of the second section? How is it surprising?
Finally, the important question: did you enjoy reading this story? Or did you hate it? Let us know why!
Please don't be shy about sharing your thoughts; your discussion will help others understand this story better!
JP, this is awesome...I'll be back tomorrow with my thoughts
Ok...
Esta fue muy divertido, me gusta mucho….más, por favor!
¡Muy bien, russhuntley!
Claro que el paraíso de las moscas es un infierno para los seres humanos ¿eh?
En cuanto al número tres, hay una referencia a un dios de infinitas alas... ¿qué significará?
This is awesome. I spent 6 hours with a one-on-one teacher reviewing the subjunctive, I have homework, and STILL I find myself at Spanishpod!
Thanks for the link. I loved this dense little story. Of course, as a Catholic priest, the subject was of interest to me.
1. I agree with russhuntley
2. I agree more or less with russhuntley, again! Except maybe purpúrea as royalty. I want to know the bonus point answers for Spanish associations!!!
3. I certainly could be way off, but I would say that the contrasts seemed to signify the differences between Western and Eastern thought: the contrast between the different understandings of a personal deity of revelation, and an impersonal existence of divinity. The difference between a deity who trancends creation and the idea of deity comprised of all that is good in existence. Also, there is also a difference between limited beings of ancient pagans and the infinite being of the Greek philosophical, Ancient Israelite, Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions.
4. I believe there is a hard-wired need for us to know something beyond ourselves... yet feel connected at the same time! So the flies seek to know a god like themselves.
5. I loved the ending. I certainly don't think fly-heaven is any more ridiculous than fat babies playing harps. When speaking of such things, it is almost completely metaphorical.
I would love to hear others' thoughts as well.
(...and one of these days I'll work up the nerve to write in Spanish!)
1. lo mismo de russhuntley.
2. los mismo de russhuntley tambien.
3. bellísima <--> monstruosa = ???
terrible <--> benévola = Cristiano
vengativa <--> justiciera = ???
joven <--> vieja = ???
No sé mucho sobre de los religiones otra de Cristiano.
4. El punto que Denevi hace, en mi opinión, es que la gente imaginaron a su dios con características contrarios y que no tienen nada entremedias. Los dios representen los extremidades de nuestros vidas. En realidad, nuestros vidas tenemos muchos complicaciónes que no son facíl a poner en categorías buenas o males. Pienso que Denevi es un ateo.
5. La broma es que las moscas van al paraíso que a los humanos piensan es como el infierno y viceversa.
No puedo pensar que es la significa de la differencia de los dios con infinitivas alas y los de sin alas.
Este microcuenta fue muy difícil para mi, pero me gusta así y todo, por descontado el término, je je.
Con debido respecto a padre_greg y russhuntley y a todos.
Claro, como escribío russito, en esta cuenta es la división antes y después de la muerte.
Un otro tipo de división fuera la parte por los qualidades de los dios y la parte sobre las recompensas que se sacará para los moscas buenas o malas.
Padre_greg
En pensando de nuevo, me acuerdo contigo...Creo que purpúrea es por realeza. Pensaba, quizas, sobre chakras.
Y por favor, tratas para escribir en español, tambien...o mejor, escribe en ambos maneras...está bien hacer faltas. El más escribas, el más te recuerdas. No te preocupes sobre errores, yo ya me sé que hago muchas, yo asesino la idioma de español a veces (mucho je je). Los usarios aqui son muy agradable y puedan ayudarte. Y por supuesto, el equipo de Spanishpod es fantastico
JP;
Creo que infinitas alas refiera a los muchas caras de dios....cómo cada persona ó mosca, se percata de dios...quizas? Porque dios es infinitas en forma, hay poder muchos muchos tipos de existencia.
Para mí es imposible leer esta microcuenta sin pensar en los Reyes del Infierno que aparacen en el serie Sandman por Neil Gaiman. ;)
Más durante el día (pero @padre_greg, me encanta el comentario sobre los bebes gordos ;) ) – sólo noto en este momento que, JP, sé que ya no andas con SpanishPod pero espero mucho que es posible continuar este serie, me gusta mucho.
It's impossible for me to read this short story without thinking of the Lords of Hell that appear in the series Sandman by Neil Gaiman. ;)
More during the day (but @padre_greg, I loved the comment about the fat babies ;) ) – for now I'll just note that, JP, I know you're not with SpanishPod anymore but I really hope it's possible to continue this series, I like it a lot.