Well I finished it. I am officially done reading The Manuscript Found in Saragossa! Well I guess I finished it a few days ago but haven't known exactly what I wanted to say about it, even though I'm not sure if I do now. I will say that it is now one of my favorite books. As with Little, Big there were times when I despised this novel but overall it was fabulous. It is one that I am going to be picking up and rereading after leaving the protective circle of MSU.
Why, you may ask, will I read this book over and over again to try and figure out what it is all about? Honestly I will read The Manuscript Found in Saragossa again because I don't understand it. I have no idea how Potocki could create such an elaborate world. I wish I could ask him how he kept the characters straight in his head. I did do some research to try and figure out how he did it but unfortunately there is little information on his life. However, it seems to be thought that he did somehow have a map of all of 66 stories that brought them all together. All I have to say to that is A-MAZING! I really would love to see a copy of this map. After finishing the book, I worked with Sara to try to come up with a summary of the book and go through it day by day and let me tell you it is very difficult to keep all of the story lines and characters straight. If I can't keep them straight reading it, I have no idea how he was able to do so writing it. This being said it is worth trying to keep them all straight! Finish/read this novel if you haven't already and if you have read it again!
Even though I love this book there are a couple of things that really irked me. First, Potocki doesn't go back the original story, at least I could figure out if he did. He doesn't mention the frame story of the soldier finding the novel. Not really all that important but annoying all the same. Second and I know that he was crucial to the story but Busqueros drove me up the wall. I could barely stand to read the parts that he was involved in.
Hopefully this isn't a spoiler for anyone but I was so sad when it turned out that the Wandering Jew wasn't really the actual Wandering Jew. He was my favorite character....I guess that really isn't fair to say. His story was the one that I felt the most drawn to but I didn't really like his personality. I especially connected with the sections of his story that related to the fluidity of mysteries and religions, which at times can be considered to interchangeable. It plays exactly into the conclusions I have been working towards for months but never knew how to express my thoughts. Professor S was definitely right in saying that this was a book for me! Not only has this book sparked new ideas for me but it has also rekindled the passion that I found last spring. I have started re-reading all of the books that I have on ancient mysteries. I guess being on bed rest is good for something.
That's pretty much most of my thoughts that I have formulated coherently on The Manuscript Found in Saragossa at this point. I'm sure more will come as I work on my readings and my project.
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