This is a capstone course for students aiming to major in Spanish, for qualified native speakers, and for students fluent in the language who are interested in contemporary literary works from Latin America. A capstone course experience implies that students will utilize to their maximum capacity the skills and abilities already acquired throughout their career in the Spanish program in order to produce refined critical thinking at the spoken, writing, and aural levels in this course.
The course has shifted from a traditional coverage-centered model to a student-learning-outcomes-centered approach (also known as “assignment centered” or “learner centered”), which focuses on the skills and abilities that students will acquire through the reading and the debating of key literary works and theoretical essays.
In the last century, Latin America produced six Nobel Prizes of Literature: Mario Vargas Llosa (2010, Peru), Octavio Paz (1990, Mexico), Miguel Angel Asturias (Guatemala, 1967), Gabriel García Márquez (1982, Colombia), Pablo Neruda (1971, Chile) and Gabriela Mistral (1945, Chile). As you have already learned in SPN 204, the cultural and historical connections between the United States and Latin America are strong and very alive. This correlation becomes especially significant in the times of the globalization era when over 10% of the population of the United States have some cultural background from predominantly Latin American countries.
The course analyzes main literary works by relevant contemporary writers of Latin America, while introducing students to theoretical debates and critical concepts about literature and culture –within the Modern Language Association (MLA) standards.
The literary production of Latin America is significant and has captured the attention of main scholars in the United States, as well as in the rest of the world.
Students will learn about the diverse contexts and historical moments in which these texts were produced, while also meeting the course SLO’s. Utilizing history, debates on cultural studies of Latin America, films and music, alongside the literary texts and theoretical essays, seniors in Spanish will further develop their critical thinking abilities. The course also strives for a better appreciation of the huge and successful literary production of Latin America.
Primary Texts:
(or Literary texts that we will read in the course both in print and in cyberspace)
Benedetti, Mario. Pedro y el capitán. (Uruguay, 1979) (teatro)
Castellanos Moya, Horacio. Insensatez (El Salvador, 2004) (novela histórica)
Cuesta, Mabel. Inscrita bajo sospecha (Cuba-USA, 2010) (narrativa personal)
Fuentes, Carlos. Aura (México, 1962) (novela)
Gallegos, Rómulo. Doña Bárbara. (Venezuela, 1929) (novela)
García Márquez, Gabriel. La increíble y triste historia de la cándida Eréndira y su abuela desalmada (Colombia, 1982) (cuentos) **Premio Nóbel de Literatura 1982**
Vargas Llosa, Mario. Los cachorros (Perú, 1967) (novela) **Premio Nóbel de Literatura 2010**
Vega, Ana Lydia. Encancaranublado y otros cuentos de naufragio. (Puerto Rico, 1982) (cuentos)
Latin American Literature in Cyberspace:
· Graciela Taquini (Argentina), URL: http://www.gracielataquini.info/
· “Gabriella Infinita” de Jaime Alejandro Rodríguez (texto) y Carlos Roberto Torres (interactividad y animación) (Colombia, 1995, una novela online), URL: http://www.javeriana.edu.co/gabriella_infinita/
· “Word Toys” de Belén Gache et all (short stories online, Argentina, 2006), URL: http://www.findelmundo.com.ar/wordtoys/
· The “Latin American Cyberculture and Cyberliterature” Project at the University of Liverpool (UK), URL: http://www.liv.ac.uk/soclas/research/lacyberculture/index.htm
Secondary Sources:
(or Theoretical supporting sources that you will also use in this course):
Docherty, Thomas, editor. Postmodernism. A Reader (paperback) (1993) Columbia University Press, ISBN 0-231-08221-5 (excerpts will be posted in Moodle)
Other essays that will be posted in Moodle.
Online Resources:
(or Secondary sources or Theory that you must consult in order to write your scholarly-oriented essays):
MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (online). OJO: personal code is needed to access this site –it comes with the purchase of the print version): http://www.mlahandbook.org/fragment/public_index
RWIT The Student Center for Research, Writing and Information Technology (Dartmouth College): http://www.dartmouth.edu/~rwit
Owl Purdue Online Writing Lab: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01
Other “Super Cool” Online Sources:
(or Secondary Sources or Theory that you may want to consult for your blog entries and other writing assignments in the course –depending on your particular interests; OJO: the following sites are all MLA sponsored Scholarly Web Sites):
Voice of the Shuttle (Dr. Alan Liu, University of California-Santa Barbara): http://vos.ucsb.edu
Cyberspace, Hypertext, & Critical Theory (Dr. George P. Landau, Brown University): http://www.cyberartsweb.org/cpace/cspaceov.html
Feminist Theory Website (Dr. Kristin Switala, Virginia Tech University): http://www.cddc.vt.edu/feminism/index.html
Introduction to Modern Literary Theory (Dr. Kristi Siegel, Mount Mary College): http://www.kristisiegel.com/theory.htm
Introductory Guide to Critical Theory (Dr. Dino Franco Felluga, Purdue University): http://www.cla.purdue.edu/english/theory
The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism: http://litguide.press.jhu.edu/index.html
