Spanish and PortugueseSpanish 609-401
Language Teaching/Learning
Prof. McMahon
This course is required of all Teaching Assistants in French, Italian, and Spanish in the second semester of their first year of teaching. It is designed to provide instructors with the necessary practical support to carry out their teaching responsibilities effectively, and builds on the practicum meetings held during the first semester. The course will also introduce students to various approaches to foreign language teaching as well as to current issues in second language acquisition. Students who have already had a similar course at another institution may be exempted upon consultation with the instructor.
Spanish 630-301
Medieval Literature in the Age of Alfonso X
Prof. Solomon
Focusing on Alfonso X (1221-1284) Las cantigas de santa Maria this seminar explores explores the rise of vernacular media in the 13th century. Drawing on recent concepts from media studies including connectivity, remediation, recursion, augmented space, and the relation between visual sensation and graphic information we will examine the 200 Galician-Portuguese miracles stories and songs, and the more than 1200 image panels in the opulent Códice Rico. As a prerequisite, students must have a strong reading knowledge of one Romance language or Latin. The course will be taught in English.
Spanish 680-301
Spanish Modernism and the Idea of 98
Prof. Acereda
In this seminar we will study the late 19th C and early 20th C literature of Spain with a specific focus on “Modernismo” and its links to the idea of Spanish “Noventayochismo”. The seminar will introduce some of the most representative texts produced in the “fin de siècle” by Spanish modernista writers, with special interest devoted to the genre of poetry and other literary and artistic representations. We will read these texts as part of a larger and deeper cultural, social, artistic and humanistic shift affecting the modernization of Spain, the literary debate and its important links to Latin America. By looking at the writings of key authors such as Antonio Machado, Juan Ramón Jiménez, Miguel de Unamuno, Manuel Machado and Rubén Darío (the latest one as a key player in the transatlantic approach to Hispanic Modernism), but also taking into account the works of other figures (Ramón del Valle-Inclán, Salvador Rueda, Francisco Villaespesa…) who greatly contributed to the popularization of the movement, the course proposes to study “Modernismo” in Spain as a literary practice and as a larger concept that includes the so-called “Noventayocho” (Azorín, Baroja, Maeztu…). We will pay special attention to Spanish enunciation of turn-of-the-century themes such as the role of art, existential attitudes, eroticism and sexuality, spirituality and sociopolitical claims. The study of these authors, texts and themes will provide us with the tools to understand the transformation in poetics, as well as the debates between modernista authors and its detractors in what we know as the “antimodernista” movement in Spain. Readings and classes will be in Spanish. At least one class presentation, two scholarly book reviews, class participation and a final research paper will be taken into account in the final grade. Class materials, readings, articles and videos will be provided digitally to the students by the professor through an internal website specifically created for this class.
SPAN 682-401
History of Literary Theory
Prof. de la Campa
This course will focus on leading critical issues pertaining to literary and cultural studies today. The main emphasis will be on clarifying conceptual paradigms as much as possible, outlining their historical evolvement through readings of classical, medieval, and variously modern texts, in each case looking at ways in which these traditions continue to inform and imbue contemporary literary theory. The list of issues and questions will include the following: How does the concept of literature unfold through the legacy of textual critiques that derive from philological, formalist, Frankfurt School, reception theory, structuralist and post-structuralist modes of reading and understanding? Do postmodern, postcolonial and subaltern constructs offer new points of departure? What are the claims of diasporic, post-nationalist and post-humanist forms of writing and reading? Do gender and race theories play a significant role in them? Lastly, in what way do recent turns toward flat or descriptive modes reading, as well as the focus on materialities of culture challenge methods of close reading?
This course will be taught in English. It will be cross-listed with CLST 511-401; COML 501-401; ENGL 571-401; GRMN 534-401; SLAV 500-401; ROML 512-401.
Spanish 690-301
Contemporary South American Narrative
Prof. Laddaga
The seminar will introduce some of the most influential bodies of narrative produced in the last decade by South American writers. We will attempt to read these bodies of work as responses to deep cultural, social, economic and technological shifts affecting the culture and industry of the book. Readings will include works by Roberto Bolaño, César Aira, João Gilberto Noll, Sergio Chejfec, and others. Readings and classes will be in Spanish.