Hello all (and mostly Dr. Reimer, since he will probably be the only person reading this)!
Since I had to leave school early to fight fire, I wrote these notes on my reactions to Bel Canto. I am writing this on my iPhone since I am out working in the mountains with a couple bars of 3G, so forgive any grammatical mistakes.
The term bel canto literally means "beautiful singing." And upon further review of a Wikipedia article about this term, I came to find out that this term was originally applied in the 17th century to refer to sophisticated singing dwelling mostly in the realms of opera or sacred song. The term underwent a series of applications throughout the following centuries, and now, in the 21st century, is "used nostalgically to evoke a lost singing tradition."
So how does this apply to Ann Patchett's novel?
First, one must do some research on the Lima Crisis, on which the book is based. I read a series of Google Scholar findings on this event, and mostly what I came up with was that the Lima Crisis occurred in 1996 when MRTA (Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement--a Marxist revolutionary group in Peru) took hundreds of important figures hostage; this event--the Lima Crisis--is also called the Japanese embassy hostage crisis because it occurred at the residence of the Japanese ambassador (in Peru), Morihisa Aoki. The hostages were freed in 1997 by Peruvian armed forces, and the President of Peru (Alberto Fujimori) was given most of the credit for their release.
Since then, a number of allegations and reports have emerged that the insurgents (MRTA) were executed after surrendering. It is important to note that the act of terrorism was mostly instigated so that MRTA could demand amnesty in order to participate in life among normal (non-commando) citizens. They also demanded better conditions in jails.
This event has sparked many a discussion apropos amnesty, execution, terrorism, and the rights of jailed individuals.
The plot of Bel Canto is essentially described above, except it is viewed in terms of the relationships between Roxane Coss and Katsumi Hokosawa and Gen Watanabe and Carmen, who is a terrorist. Politics and language barriers are the main obstacles in their relationships.
The dynamic of the relationships in this novel can be described as nothing more or less than star-crossed; they reminded me of Jack and Rose in the Titanic and Romeo and Juliet in, well, Romeo and Juliet. Both relationships are highly political and, musically and linguistically, cacophonous.
Hokosawa ends up dying in an attempt to save Carmen even though he loves Roxane (and her voice). Roxane's aptitude for all things musical ends up comforting the party during the standoff--a clear testament to the power of music. Watanabe is a translator. Carmen dies because she is a terrorist and most people do not have any tolerance for terrorism. Watanabe and Coss end up together because their partners died and that would be the most natural thing to do after your lovers die...sympathizing with someone whose lover also died.
I could talk about the obvious theme of music bringing people together in times of crisis...the ability of opera to comfort people in dire circumstances. That is a superficial reading, in my opinion. It does no good to me as a human and to the readership of the novel in terms of a modern era that is very much subject to politics and globalization.
But it is the idea of the broken hallelujah that was most resonant to me in this book: I want to focus on the modern meaning an context of bel canto--a word to describe nostalgia of lost traditions. To me, this nostalgia is particularly applicable now...in the midst of the tragedy that occurred recently in Boston. Lives were lost, and that is a shame. But the sound of bombs, screams, and sheer terror--CACOPHONY--makes us wonder about our capability as humans to understand violence. How do we take it in? Nostalgically, was there ever a time when we, as citizens of the United States, cared unanimously about the wellbeing of another country's citizens more so than our own?
To me, it is ridiculous that this event in Boston caused so much alarm. Things like this happen every day in other places, and we, as an isolated and sheltered society, choose to ignore the screams of those who do not live on U.S. soil. This, to me, is the meaning of cacophony, and, the meaning of the broken hallelujah.
We have discussed the idea of circles in depth and at length this semester. Take this quote from Bel Canto:
"The day no longer progressed in its normal, linear fashion but instead every hour circled back to its beginning, every moment was lived over and over again. Time, in the manner in which they had all understood it, was over" (106).
The term bel canto represents nostalgia and returning to values that have always held true for societies. One of these values in love. Life itself is linear because time (in its Western interpretation) is linear. However, at the end of the novel, love is the only thing that appears to be circular and never-ending.
And that holds true outside of literature as well.
Thanks for a great semester, and have a great summer.
Blessings!
Jenna P. Lyons
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