Spring 2018 Course Descriptions

Storybooks: The Brief Narrative Collections in Medieval Spain 

SPAN 630-301

Prof. Michael Solomon

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This seminar explores the process of assemblage and the effects of codification on brief narratives such as fables, exempla, historical anecdotes, myths, miracles, marvels, and ballads. Working with various theories of narratology, we investigate the role of framing and ordering mechanisms in producing meaning and generating interpretations.  Collections covered in this seminar include El conde Lucanor (don Juan Manuel), El libro de buen amor (Juan Ruiz), Las Cantigas de Santa María (Alfonso X), Llibre de meravelles (Román Llull), El Archipreste de Talavera (Alonso Martínez de Toledo), Crónica sarracina (Pedro Corral), and El romancero viejo.  The seminar is taught in English, but most primary sources will only be available in Spanish.   

 

Realismo y Nación: La Herencia Liberal en el XIX   

SPAN 686-301

Prof. Ignacio Lopez

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En este curso estudiamos la evolución del Realismo en la novela española del XIX. En un principio, conectamos su origen con el fracaso de la revolución liberal que promueve la superación del Romanticismo prestando atención a Juan Valera (Pepita Jiménez), Pedro A de Alarcón (El escándalo), Pereda (Don Gonzalo) y el primer Galdós (Doña Perfecta). Seguidamente, estudiamos el desarrollo del Naturalismo leyendo detalladamente las obras centrales de la novela española del XIX, La Regenta (L. Alas) y Fortunata y Jacinta (Galdós). Concluimos el curso con la lectura de La madre Naturaleza (Pardo Bazán), ejemplo de una novela ambivalente que partiendo del modelo naturalista apunta a un tipo de novela nueva.

La nota final se calcula considerando un trabajo final escrito a lo largo de 10 semanas, una o dos presentaciones orales, una presentación y elaboración bibliográfica, y la participación activa en clase.

 

Forms: The Picaresque in Mexico, 1690-2013

SPAN 690-301

Prof. Jorge Tellez

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The picaresque, because of its versatile and adaptable nature, has spread widely across countries, languages, and literary traditions from 1554 until the present. Depending on one’s point of view, it pertains to the rise of the Western novel; the social and economic crises of 16th and 17th-century Europe; the Spanish colonial expansion; and also to a long-standing literary tradition of satire that can be traced from the classical period until the present time. In this seminar, we will study how this dissemination transpired in Mexico, and why this is relevant to understand the production and circulation of Mexican literature from colonial times to the 21st century. We will read picaresque narratives by Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora, Fray Servando Teresa de Mier, José Joaquín Fernández de Lizardi, Elena Poniatowska, Valeria Luiselli, among others, and discuss them along with current theoretical debates on literary (new) formalisms.

 

Contemporary Latin American Cinema    

SPAN 694-401

Prof. Román de la Campa

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This course will examine some of the best-known Latin American films in light of various strands of influential theoretical models pertaining to the area, such as New Latin American Film, imperfect cinema, third world film, national cultural identity critiques and neoliberal manifestations. In particular, we will explore whether the waning of revolutionary and other utopian discourses has given way to themes and techniques that feature migratory displacement, new gender formation and neoliberal ambivalence in Latin American cinema. The goal is not only to observe how these topics shift the focus from national histories or ideological common places but also to study how these films engage new video cultures and market pressures in their pursuit of audiences. Film theory and criticism will therefore accompany the discussion of screened movies. The list of films will include Wild Tales, 7 Days in Havana, Revolución, XXY, No, City of God, Silent Night, Love is a Bitch, Memories of Underdevelopment, I The Worst of All, El Topo, Pixote, Entranced Earth, The Young and the Damned, El Mariachi, among others. The class will be mainly taught in English but the films will be subtitled in English and students who wish to do so may write their papers and make their presentations in English or Spanish. A minimum of two 15-page papers and a class presentation will be required.

 

Workshop on Scholarly Writing   

SPAN 698-301 

Prof. TBA

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This course aims to develop awareness about what constitutes effective scholarly prose in Spanish. It proposes to hone the student's handling of writing as a vehicle for the expression of intellectual thought, but also to develop a consciousness of the rhetorical strategies that can be used to advance a critical argument effectively. Extensive writing exercises will be assigned; these will be followed by intense and multiple redactions of the work originally produced. The ulitmate goal is to make students develop precision, correctness, and elegance in written Spanish. Students will also work on a class paper written previously, with a view to learning the process of transforming a short, limited expression of an argument into a publishable article.