Post a brief reflection/free write on the following: What was your experience of reading each of these pieces? What kind of sources does Teju Cole use in each of these essays? What role do the sources play in the piece?
. . Extra points (in my heart, mind, and soul) if you comment on something one of your classmates has said-- acknowledge a point they've made, agree, disagree, clarify, expand, or just notice!
18 Comments
Lorenzo dela Cruz
9/20/2017 02:20:43 pm
Both Far Away from Here and Known and Strange Things, were very inspiring pieces. Teju Cole has an interesting way of presenting his story of when he went to Switzerland to do photography. He uses outside sources from history and other texts to affirm his experiences. Both pieces contained a sense of longing for purpose and a calling. However, I think that Known and Strange Things had a more powerful message of loneliness because it gave personal experiences and feeling that he felt trying to belong in a new country and a new home. It recounts a story of struggle, a struggle leading to the narrator’s eventual victory over his struggle. Teju Cole, has a sort of longing for beauty in the landscape of Switzerland. He searches for beauty, but also uniqueness that he thinks does not exist. By the end he discovers a new kind of photography that is unique of himself and of Switzerland.
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Christina Gaspar
9/20/2017 03:05:45 pm
In my initial reading of “Far Away from Here” and “Home Strange Home” I noticed that although, both pieces differ in style, plot, and structure, Teju Cole uses a similar melancholic tone to describe the experience of both characters when they are away from home. The structure of “Far Away from Here” is interesting because although, he cites quotes from academic individuals and references many historical time periods, he never lets his academic analysis change his use personal narrative nor the colloquial tone his writing gives off. The uses of sources in this piece serve to enrich Cole’s understanding and analysis of his photographic depictions of landscapes in Switzerland. Another thing that I noticed was how each of Cole’s arguments flowed perfectly into the other. Throughout, the piece Cole outlined the transformation of Switzerland as a travel destination and took us through the different photographic periods that produced real images of landscapes all over the world. Cole was specifically interested in the way various professional photographers brilliantly captured the beauty of the Andes and how amateur photographers questioned whether they could produce something different and intriguing using the same landscape.
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Chrstina Hendricks
9/20/2017 03:32:22 pm
Teju Cole Free Write!
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Vincent Lyau
9/20/2017 03:46:42 pm
Reading these pieces was an experience very much different from reading the travel narratives we had read before in this class. Throughout the two pieces, I found a strange combination of calmness and excitement, and I found no reason that they could not simultaneously exist even as I felt it strange the way a piece could seem so indifferent at the same time as conveying anticipation, or, in the case of the second story, isolation. This, when combined with the incredible sense of lethargic empathy I gained for the person in both stories, made me feel as though I was reading about experiences unique to Teju Cole. It felt like I would never have come close to feeling the way Cole did in either piece without his depictions of his confusion. And it is a strange confusion to me, for sometimes it is clear to me that Cole is earnestly following his path but then, shortly afterward, it becomes equally clear that Cole isn't sure what his path is to begin with.
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Brandon Lee
9/20/2017 04:28:16 pm
“Fernweh,” the longing to be somewhere else. The word invokes a tender feeling of nostalgia, some restless, agitated yearning for something that in of itself calls forth a form of catharsis. Cole’s first essay, “Far Away from Here,” conjures a similar bittersweet feeling. While reading his essay, I could not help but place myself in his shoes, staring at the Alps he so gracefully described or walking down the quaint streets staring at the banks and boutiques and chocolatiers. I couldn’t help but feel content and at home in his writing, which was describing a foreign place that I have never been to. In the piece Cole uses visual details, references to elusive words that complement the subject in his writing, and times of reference to bring credibility and logos to his essay. Cole’s second essay, “Home Strange Home,” also employs the idea of “Fernweh”. In this essay Cole lives in Nigeria but has dual citizenship in America. He feels “Fernweh” towards the US, a place that he does not remember being in. However once he arrives in America, he feels nostalgia towards his real home in Nigeria. To improve his ethos, in this passage Cole references the political instability in Liberia, and the growing corruption in his own native Nigeria. By using these sources, Cole gives the reader an understanding of what it was like to be in his shoes, and better lets us understand what his time period was like and what he experiences.
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Natalie Enos
9/20/2017 04:44:53 pm
I thought that both of the pieces were extremely interesting both in content and in how they were expressed. Cole uses very many different sources in his work, "Far Away from Here," and I believe that this adds to the complexity and intrigue of his work. We as readers are able to see both his experiences in Switzerland and those of the people before him. I think that it is also important that he chooses to allude to the work of different artists and photographers to explain his work and base of inspiration. At first I struggled with keeping up with all the sources and what they contributed to the essay, but the second time I read it I found that the sources actually helped me to understand his insight and perception of Switzerland and the role that it played in his life.
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Lauren Jones
9/20/2017 05:02:58 pm
Reading this piece, I experienced curiosity, fascination, wanderlust (I now want to visit Switzerland), and awe from Cole’s descriptions and reflections of the small country. I noticed his process as an art historian as analogous to what we are learning in this class about the writing process: the fact that he must take thousands of pictures to find the one to put in his journal, the way he experiences trial and error, and the way he must return to Switzerland to take more pictures rather than settle for the ones he already has. Teju uses sources from novels and authors, artists and paintings, travel writers and travel guides, photographers and photo journals, poets and poems, writers, interviewers, and German legends. All of these outside sources brought new perspectives to the piece in which Teju built of off. It was interesting how he used so many other forms of art to help explain his and to enhance his experiences as a photographer.
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Hudson Northrop
9/20/2017 07:41:21 pm
Reading Cole's writing was a very fascinating and enjoyable experience, for he expertly integrates the work with his own narrative, outside sources, and his personal commentaries of certain happenings. In "Far Away From Here" Cole tells us a grand story of his artful experiences amongst the world. But his writing does not solely consist of his own words, he incorporates countless other sources that quickly describe the current topic of conversation. Cole's many additions of outer sources often provide a good historical and visual context to the stories he tells. With a better vision of what Cole describes, readers are better able to relate to his experiences, such as feelings of homesickness and longing while on a journey. "Home Strange Home" offers a much more personal and emotional experience. This piece delves deeper into Cole's childhood and portrays what I understand to be a cultural dilemma. Essentially Cole tries to remember his brief life in America in order to feel like he has a sense of origin, however he grows up in a Nigerian fashion. Then as he goes off to college it appears that he looks forward to being apart of his own people once again, yet in America he feels alienated as well. This brief narrative of his exemplifies a tragedy in which his nationality is American, yet he is never able to comfortably identify with the USA or Nigeria. All in all, Cole’s mixture of sources and personal anecdotes blend smoothly in order to create a well established writing that offers excellent insight and detail about all topics that are covered.
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Sarah Giorgi
9/20/2017 07:42:44 pm
After reading both the pieces, I feel I connected the most with "Home Strange Home." Although I have never moved as drastically as the author did, I do feel like I "invent memories." It's easy to look back on something and envision it in a way favorable to your circumstances (similar to hearing different sides of the story from other people). I sensed the nostalgia and homesickness in that piece and I feel as though that helped me, and most likely other readers, connect with the piece because real human emotion was conveyed. The "Far Away from Here" piece was also interesting to me. I recently went to Switzerland over the summer (and coincidentally the same places the author went) so it was interesting to see someone else's outlook on the place. I enjoyed the way the author tied in the different cameras he used to move the piece along. I also enjoyed the various sources that the author used. At first, it felt like it was more of a research paper because of the extensive sources, but upon reading it a second time I realized that these sources simply added to the piece. They help to describe on singular place using multiple perspectives, which is fascinating.
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Ryan Van
9/20/2017 10:13:18 pm
Reading the first passage enthralled me, Cole emphasized the ability photographs hold in defining a region (Switzerland) – in defining the physical landscape and the power it holds. It is not mere mimicry that entices people to visit new places, rather pictures, simple images attract people to journey for new experiences. Cole drew his argument from many sources, many time periods, many locations around the world. He assures to diversify his perspectives in order to gain a broad, but persuasive assertion that capturing a moment, solidified in time, stimulates happiness. The author primarily talks in the form of journalism – he dates his work on the day he writes and speaks as if he regurgitates his thoughts onto paper.
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Seth Dumaguin
9/20/2017 10:37:13 pm
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Elizabeth Lemons
9/21/2017 03:27:21 am
Teju Cole's story of travel is refreshingly humble yet grandiose in its descriptions; he takes time to marvel at the beauty of the world, but he does not waste time making false exaggerations for the sake of impressing the reader. The way he describes human nature as something that is constantly longing to find its place but also to escape gives the reader their own sense of calm melancholy while reading, and it makes the piece feel that much more personal and vulnerable.
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Damaris Hernandez
9/21/2017 11:11:55 am
Both pieces of literature were really enjoyable. I liked how Teju Cole used mostly prose throughout his essay because this made it easier to read and understand. I have read some essays where I just cannot seem to understand because of the high vocabulary but it was not like this in this case. I related to Cole in his essay "Home Strange Home" when he said that he couldn't pronounce some words correctly in English. This was me in elementary become I came from a spanish-speaking home. It seemed as he sort of felt guilty for not being or having Nigerian Pride when he said that he rooted for The USA Team and how he felt connected to the Silicon Valley or NASA, american things/places. His use of memoir in "Home Strange Home" makes it more interesting to read his essay and it makes the reader, or me feel more inclined to continue reading and enjoy it. In "Far away from Home" he uses more of Journalism, prose, historical information/background, and memoir which made it enjoyable to also have interest.
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Nicole Mendoza
9/21/2017 12:53:08 pm
In his essays "Far Away from Here" and "Home Strange Home" Teju Cole demonstrated a brilliant mastery of conjuring images and invoking emotion in the reader.
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Maribel Juarez Vargas
9/21/2017 01:01:30 pm
When I began reading Cole’s work, I was a little confused. It jumped right into accepting an invitation, but no other background information was provided? All we knew at this point was that the narrator was a writer, and that he had been invited to participate in a literature program. However the following pages are describe how no camera is good enough to capture the beauty of Switzerland’s landscape. I was expecting Cole to go further in depth about his experience in the program, how he became a writer, or anything within the literature department. But instead he focused on understanding the place you are in and capturing photographs. Which lead me to question what kind of writer is Cole? Nonetheless, he is very descriptive in retailing what his location looked like or the instruments he used, which helped visualized the setting.
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Allan Lee
9/21/2017 01:18:10 pm
What really interested me the most in Cole's "Far Away from Here" was his style of taking photos. He stated that he was drawn to the images of the objects rather than the object. He would rather take pictures of mountains on billboards rather than the mountain. I think many people can relate to this on an unconscious level because we always think in the perspective of how other people think. Everything we know about ideas, objects, things are through the minds of others and, although we might take these ideas as our own, we are always learning, thinking and taking from others. I also liked how Cole told a lot of stories about the Mountains of Switzerland in the perspective of others, hence the sources. When Cole cites Mark Twain, stating that there is a lack of the unknown anymore due to the fact that travel and frequent have become less frequent, I feel it directly refers to his conflict of seeing objects, or seeing images of things taken by other people. His citations just reenforce his claim. In "Home Strange from Home", I read Vincent's free write and noticed that he placed significance on the nurse's quote, calling Cole a "gorgeous Borgess baby." I agree that it places a lot of influence on his changing identity, because it seems as if he is making up that the nurse said that.
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Jillian Behrens
9/21/2017 01:34:13 pm
When I first started reading the two passages, I became very excited to read Far Away from Here, because in the spring I actually spent a few days in Zürich, Switzerland. I really enjoyed his descriptions of the beautiful country and how he aspired to capture every different aspect of the country, rather than the stereotypical mountains.
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Shalin Shah
9/22/2017 04:11:28 pm
In “Far Away from Home,” I love the descriptions Cole provides on his process of understanding any new place: through photography. I can definitely relate. Having recently been to Switzerland, I can see vivid pictures of the places he talks about and it incites nostalgia. The extreme weather, the feeling of being the only person in the wilderness, that is also the essence of Switzerland that I got when I went there, so I knowing that Cole experienced similar things was really interesting to read. Also, I thought the description of him talking about how he can really understand a place when he has captures pictures of it’s most iconic and symbolic places was really different. Most people would want to capture the less well known parts of the country, whereas Cole wants to capture the subtleties in very iconic and well known parts. One thing I was expecting was that this piece was be old and ancient, so I started laughing when I read the bit about capturing a picture with the iPhone.
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