The development of cultural patterns and literary forms in Spanish America since the late 19th century. Topics may include: the importance of oral traditions and popular music in forging identities; the literary and ideological import of modernismo, travel literature in the 19th century; and the avant-garde movements of the 1920s. Two 90-minute classes. Prerequisite: a 200-level Spanish course or instructor's permission.
Topics in Latin American Modernity
Professor/Instructor
The Invention of Latin American Traditions
Professor/Instructor
Fundamental texts of Spanish American literature from colonial times to the present. In a given semester the course could focus on works by Garcilaso, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Sarmiento, José Hernandez, Martí, Borges, Mariátegui, Palés Matos, Henríquez Ureña, or Lezama Lima. Two 90-minute seminars. Prerequisite: a 200-level Spanish course or instructor's permission.
Literature and Society in Early Latin America
Professor/Instructor
This seminar studies literary, legal, and historical writings in relation to such topics as imperialism and colonialism, the image of the "Indian," cultural identities, and rhetoric and politics, from the writings of Columbus and the cartographic imagination to the formation of the new criollo culture in the vice-regal city. Texts from the following authors will be carefully analyzed: Cortés, Cabeza de Vaca, Las Casas, Garcilaso de la Vega, Huaman Poma, and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. Two 90-minute seminars. Prerequisite: a 200-level Spanish course or instructor's permission.
Topics in Latin American Literature and Ideology
Professor/Instructor
Susana DraperLatin American and Caribbean thought from 1800 to the present, focusing on the conflicting cultural and ideological assumptions of liberalism and nationalism. Topics might include slavery and literature, the writing of history, the intellectuals and power, or the writings of some major figures such as Bolívar, Hostos, Martí, Mariátegui, Fernando Ortiz, or Paz. Two 90-minute seminars. Prerequisite: a 200-level Spanish course or instructor's permission.
Modern Latin American Fiction in Translation
Professor/Instructor
Rubén GalloReadings and discussion of authors such as Machado de Assis, Cortázar, Lispector, García Márquez, Vargas Llosa, and Puig, considered in relation to the cultures of Latin America and to trends of modern European and American fiction. Does not count as a departmental course for Spanish majors unless readings and papers are done in Spanish. Three hour lecture. Prerequisite: a 200-level Spanish course or instructor's permission.
Fictions and Communities in the Andes
Professor/Instructor
How is the complexity of the Andes imagined or resolved in its literatures? This seminar will study the plurality of narrations and communities that constitute the Andean world, focusing primarily on Peru and two of its major intellectual movements in the 20th century: the indigenismo and the criollo urban literature. Aspects of the Afro-Peruvian narratives will also be studied. Major authors discussed include: Ricardo Palma, Clorinda Matto, González Prada, Mariátegui, Arguedas, Vargas Llosa, Bryce, Ribeyro, Gregorio Martínez. Conducted in Spanish. Two 90-minute seminars. Prerequisite: a 200-level Spanish course or instructor's permission.
The Lyric
Professor/Instructor
Sandra Lekas BermannThe lyric as a form of literary art, as distinct from narrative or drama. Readings encompass a variety of lyrical forms and a number of different cultures. Translations will be used. One lecture, one two-hour seminar.
Topics in Latin American Cultural Studies
Professor/Instructor
Nicole D. LegnaniA course focusing on elements of Latin American culture that left a strong mark on the history, literature, and arts of the region. Recent topics include the representation of Che Guevara in novels, film, and photography; the literary response to Tango in Argentina; the impact of the invention of radio in avant-garde poetry. The course will emphasize the connections between history, literature, arts, and visual culture of the region. Two 90-minute seminars. Prerequisite: a 200-level Spanish course or instructor's permission.
Topics in the Culture of Cities
Professor/Instructor
An overview of the cultural production and history of major cities in the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking worlds. Possible topics include Mexico City, Barcelona, Saõ Paulo, Buenos Aires, Havana, and Madrid. The course will examine the representation of the city in literature (poetry and prose), film, painting, photography, and music. Discussions will focus on how historical events determine the possibilities of representation. Two 90-minute classes. Prerequisite: a 200-level Spanish course or instructor's permission.
Topics in the Politics of Writing and Difference
Professor/Instructor
A course analyzing various Latin American literary and written traditions produced by, in dialogue with, or on behalf of subjects who have an ambiguous relationship with dominant forms of written expression, for example: indigenous people, black people, and women. Special attention will be given to slave narratives, testimonio, autobiography, and the indigenista novel. Two 90-minute classes. Prerequisite: a 200-level Spanish course or instructor's permission.
Topics in Gender and Representation
Professor/Instructor
An examination of the relationship between gender and genre, between the author's experience as a gendered subject, and experiments with literary form. Topics might include women's writing, gay literature, and the aesthetics of camp. Discussions will emphasize the link between experimental forms of writing and the experience of history as a gendered subject. Two 90-minute classes. Prerequisite: a 200-level Spanish course or instructor's permission.
Translation Workshop: Spanish to English
Professor/Instructor
Natasha WimmerThis workshop-style course will focus on developing the student's skills in translating short texts from Spanish into English. Each week one or two students will present their translations from a selection of poems and short stories by writers like Octavio Paz, Carlos Fuentes, Elena Poniatowska, Julio Cortázar, and many others. Students will also read theoretical texts about translation. Several professional translators will visit the class during the semester and present examples from their own work to the class. Prerequisite: reading knowledge of Spanish. One three-hour seminar.
Topics in the Theory of Translation
Professor/Instructor
An overview of recent debates about the practice of translation with special emphasis on how these ideas have been applied in translations of literary works by poets, novelists, and thinkers like Octavio Paz, Alfonso Reyes, Jorge Luis Borges, José Lezama Lima, and José Ortega y Gasset. Readings include essays on translation by Walter Benjamin, Vladimir Nabokov, Georges Steiner, and Lawrence Venutti. Students will be asked to translate a literary text from Spanish to English. Prerequisite: 307. One three-hour seminar.
Topics in Hispanic Culture (Europe and America)
Professor/Instructor
Possible topics might include: modernity, empire, and colonialism, European travel literature in Latin America, the encounter of Latin America, and North American cultural traditions. One three-hour seminar. Prerequisite: a 300-level Spanish course or instructor's permission.
Latin American Studies Seminar
Professor/Instructor
The seminar will concentrate upon themes and topics in Latin American history, politics, society, literature, and/or culture. The focus will vary from year to year.
Latin American Studies Seminar
Professor/Instructor
The seminar will concentrate upon themes and topics in Latin American history, politics, society, literature, and/or culture. The focus will vary from year to year.
Methodology of Spanish and Portuguese Language Teaching: Seminar and Practicum
Professor/Instructor
Alberto Bruzos Moro, Nicola Trowbridge CooneyPractical and theoretical preparation for teachers of the Spanish and Portuguese languages.
The Spanish Pacific, 1521-1815: A Survey of Primary Sources
Professor/Instructor
Christina H. LeeThe "Spanish Pacific" designates the geographical space Spain colonized or aspired to rule in Asia between 1521, the year Ferdinand Magellan reached the East by sailing West, and 1815, the year when the yearly galleon that linked Mexico to the Philippines stopped operating. It includes the Philippines and the Marianas - territories ruled by the Spanish Crown - but also parts of China, Japan, and other parts of Asia that Spanish officials and missionaries imagined as extensions of their American colonies. This course introduces the Spanish Pacific through the examination of a varied selection of primary sources written mainly in Spanish.
Seminar in Medieval Spanish Literature
Professor/Instructor
Marina S. BrownleeTo suit the particular interests of the students and the instructor, an intensive study of special topics, such as the representation of women, changing concepts of the hero, and first-person narratives.
Seminar in Golden-Age Literature
Professor/Instructor
Marina S. BrownleeTo suit the particular interests of the students and the instructor, intensive study of special topics, such as the Celestina, the mystics, Don Quixote, Renaissance, and baroque.
Main Currents of Spanish Thought, 1848 to the Present
Professor/Instructor
Germán Labrador MéndezKrausismo and its countercurrents (traditionalism, neo-Catholicism, and positivism) and the doctrines emerging from the Institución Libre de Enseñanza; the Generation of '98 and the "problem of Spain"; and falangismo, new historicism, and post-Civil War liberalism.
Seminar in Modern Spanish Literature
Professor/Instructor
Natalia Castro PicónTo suit the particular interests of the students and the instructor, an intensive study of selected special topics, such as an individual author (Galdós, Unamuno, Lorca, and others), a literary movement (naturalism, the Generation of '98, and others), and theories of literary criticism.
Narrative Prose in Latin America
Professor/Instructor
Rachel Lee PriceLiterary and extraliterary contexts of prose fiction in Latin America over the past hundred years through a study of representative writers, including Machado de Assis, Cambaceres, Borges, Onetti, García Márquez, Felisberto Hernández, Rulfo, and Cabrera Infante.
Seminar in Modern Spanish-American Literature
Professor/Instructor
Rubén GalloAn intensive study of intellectuals and nationalism in Latin America and the Caribbean; the Spanish American essay from Rodó to Paz; autobiography and first-person narrative, Martí; and the generation of 1880 in Argentina, the crónica modernista, poesía gauchesca.
Seminar in Colonial Spanish American Literature
Professor/Instructor
Nicole D. LegnaniIntensive study of topics such as Bartolomé de las Casas and the conquest of the Indies; Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz; Neoplatonism and history in El Inca Garcilaso de la Vega; criollo letters and culture (1690-1824); and research methods and literary criticism pertinent to colonial literary studies.