Spanish 485: Literature of Spanish America I

Fall 2001

TR 10:30-11:45  W 263

Professor Lisa Rabin

Department of Modern and Classical Languages

 

 

 

Requirements:

Spanish 300, 390 (311), and 452, or permission of instructor.

 

Course description:

This is a three-credit one-semester survey course on the literature of Spanish America from the colonial period to the later nineteenth century.

 

Objectives: 

You will read a variety of texts from poetry to short stories and essays.  Special attention will be given to the literary, historic, and socio-political context in which the texts were written.  The course will include writers accepted by the literary canon as well as innovative and marginal voices.  The goal is to introduce you to the predominant topics in Spanish American intellectual and political debates during this period, and a broader understanding of Spanish American culture.

 

Required Texts:

·         At the bookstore: Garganigo et al.  Huellas de las literaturas hispanoamericanas

·         There is also a course packet that you must buy at the Course Copy Room in the Johnson Center.

 

Course Policies:

1.       Class participation will be part of the final grade.  I don't expect you to completely understand what you read on your own, and you shouldn't be discouraged if you don't grasp the "meaning" all at once.  The in-depth discussion of the texts will be done in class, but you must be able to participate in the discussion and contribute your ideas at all times.

 

2.       At the end of the selection on each writer in the textbook there is a section called "Reflection and Analysis."  You must answer the questions and bring them to class on the day that we discuss the writers that are indicated below on the schedule.  Your answers must be typed and double-spaced.  This homework is mandatory, and will not be accepted after the date on which it is due.

 

2.    You are also expected to attend all classes and to be on time.  It is very disruptive when you are late, both to your classmates and to your instructor.  A roll will be signed at each class meeting.  Classes, quizzes, and exams missed cannot be made up.

 

Grading Policy:

The final grade will be determined on the basis of the following:

1.       Preparation of homework assignments, class participation, and attendance: 20%

2.       3 quizzes, testing you on factual material from the texts and literary terms: 10% each

2.    2 scheduled tests: 15% each

3.   Final Exam: 20%

 

Honor Code:  All written assignments, quizzes and examinations must be done independently.  Please read your college catalog for information on George Mason University's Honor Code.

Schedule:

 

28 August          Introduction to the idea of a Spanish American literary "tradition."  Read Gabriel García Márquez, “Los funerales de la Mamá Grande” en Huellas

 

 

30 August          Discuss reading.  Introduction to the culture and "literatures" of Native American cultures at the time of conquest and colonization.  Read: "La literatura náhuatl" and náhuatl poems 8-21; "La literatura maya" and the story "los dzules"; and "La literatura quechua" and "Oración primera" 

 

 

4 September      Discuss reading.  Introduction to the texts of the "discovery" and conquest period of the Caribbean and Mexico.  Read: "La narrativa del encuentro y la conquista del Nuevo Mundo and " Columbus' "Diario a bordo"

 

 

6 September      No class.  I am on a panel at the annual meeting of the Latin American Studies Association this morning.  Class will be made up during reading days.

 

 

11 September   Discuss reading.  Lecture on the conquest of Mexico and Cortés’ texts.  Read: Hern<n CortJs' "Segunda carta"

 

 

13 September   First Quiz.  Lecture on revisionist conquest history.  Film: Cabeza de Vaca.  Read: Bernal Díaz del Castillo, “La historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España.”

 

 

18 September    Discuss reading.  Read: Bartolomé de Las Casas, "Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las Indias"

                       

 

20 September    Discuss reading.  Introduction to the conquest of Peru.  Read: El Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, Comentarios reales 

 

 

25 September    Discuss Garcilaso. Transparencies on sections of Guaman Poma de Ayala, Nueva Corónica y Buen Gobierno.  Review for first exam.

 

 

27 September    First Exam.  Introduction to Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz and the colonial Baroque. Read: Material on the Baroque in Huellas

 

 

2 October         Discussion on the Baroque.  Film: I, The Worst of All.  Read: “Carta” de Sor Juana

 

 

4 October         Discussion of reading.  Lecture on Early Modern Lyric Poetry: Petrarch, Garcilaso de la Vega, Góngora and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.  Read: the poems of Bernardo de Balbuena and Juan del Valle de Caviedes

 

9 October         Columbus Holiday

 

 

11 October       Discuss Balbuena and Caviedes.  Poetry of Sor Juana

 

 

16 October       Discuss Sor Juana’s poetry.  Homework: study the colonial Baroque for quiz

 

 

18 October       Quiz on the Baroque. Introduction to the Enlightenment.  Neoclassicism in Spanish America.  Read: Selections from Alonso Carrió de la Vandera, El Lazarillo de Ciegos Caminantes 

 

 

23 October       Discuss reading.  Read: José Joaquín de Lizardi, Don Catrín de la Fachenda

 

 

25 October       Discuss Lizardi.  Introduction to the independence of Spanish America.  Transparency of selections of Bolívar's Carta de Jamaica.  Read: AndrJs Bello, “Oda a la agricultura de la zona tórrida” (course packet)

 

 

30 October       Discuss Bello.  Review for second exam.

                                               

 

1 November     Second Exam.  Introduction to Romanticism in Europe and Spanish America. Read: "Del Romanticismo a Modernismo," and poems of JosJ María Heredia.

 

 

6  November    Discussion of reading. Lecture on Romanticism and dictatorships in Argentina.  Film: Camila. Read: Esteban EcheverrRa, “El matadero”

 

 

8 November     Discuss reading.  Lecture on Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, Facundo

                       

 

13 November    Discussion of reading.  Continue reading Sarmiento.

 

 

15 November  Discussion of Sarmiento.  Lecture on women writers of Romanticism. Read: Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, poems

 

 

20 November    Quiz on Romanticism.   Lecture on the genre of the national romance novel.  Read: Gómez de Avellaneda, Sab

 

 

22 November    Thanksgiving Vacation

 

 

27 November    Discuss Sab.   Lecture on José Hernández and the cult of the gaucho in Argentina.  Read: El gaucho Martín Fierro

 29 November   Discuss Hernández.  Continue reading Martín Fierro.

 

 

4 December      Discuss Hernández. Lecture on José Martí.  Read: poems by José Martí

 

 

6 December      Discuss Martí.  Homework: Study for final exam

 

 

11 December    Review for final exam. 

 

 

13 December    Final exam, 10:30 a.m. -1:15 p.m.