2006-2007 Graduate Courses in Spanish
| AUTUMN | WINTER | SPRING |
|---|---|---|
| 30400 Curso de perfeccionamiento | 31100 Las regiones del español | 30601 Discurso Académico |
| 30500 Curso de Redacción Académica | 32701 Poesía, Nación y Ciudadania | 31000 Heritage Speakers |
| 33900 El Teatro en Corte Felipe IV | 34301 Ekphrasis on Stage | 34700 Historiografía mestiza |
| 34103 El Mester de Clercia: 1200-1400 | 37700 Historia y memoria | 35101 Marti |
| 39400 Teatro del Siglo XX | 42100 Reading and Research | 42100 Reading and Research |
| 39501 Poesía, Modernidad e Historia: Octavio Paz | ||
| 42100 Reading and Research |
Graduate Course Descriptions
30400. Curso de redacción académica. PQ: SPAN 20300 or consent of instructor. The goal of this advanced language course is to help students achieve mastery of composition and style through the acquisition of numerous writing techniques. In this class students read a wide variety of literary, historiographic, and sociological texts. Through writing a number of essays and participating in class debates, students are guided in the examination of linguistic structures and organization of several types of written Spanish discourse. In addition, this course is designed to enhance awareness of the cultural diversity within the contemporary Spanish-speaking world and its historical roots. Staff. Autumn, Winter.
30500. Curso de redacción académica para hablantes nativos. PQ: Open only to native and heritage speakers with consent of instructor. The goal of this advanced language course is to help students achieve mastery of composition and style through the acquisition of numerous writing techniques. In this class students read a wide variety of literary, historiographic, and sociological texts. Through writing a number of essays and participating in class debates, students are guided in the examination of linguistic structures and organization of several types of written Spanish discourse. In addition, this course is designed to enhance awareness of the cultural diversity within the contemporary Spanish-speaking world and its historical roots. L. Van Den Hout. Autumn.
30601. Discurso Académico. This advanced language course is devoted to developing advanced proficiency in spoken Spanish. There is special emphasis on problems in phonetics particular to Anglophones. To help students expand their linguistic fluency, class work focuses on frequent oral presentations that exemplify the use of patterns in the spoken language. Staff. Spring.
31000. Heritage Speakers. This seminar/practicum focuses on developing vocabulary and discourse styles for academic verbal communication through exposure to taped formal interviews and public debate in the media. This course also includes diverse written materials and, most importantly, active class participation. Spring.
31100. Las regiones del español. This advanced-language course expands awareness with regard to the great sociocultural diversity to be found within the Spanish-speaking world and its impact on the Spanish language. To accomplish this goal, it emphasizes the interrelationship between language and culture as well as ethno-historical transformations within the following regions of the Hispanic world: (1) Iberian Peninsula, (2) Caribbean, Central and North America, (3) Argentina and Cono Sur, and (4) the Andean region. Students are exposed to a wide variety of literary and nonliterary texts, as well as to audio-visual materials that enhance their awareness of regional expressions. Winter.
32701. Poesía, nación y ciudadanía en el siglo XIX hispanoamericano. In this course we will explore the relationships between poetry and the constitution of the modern nation-state in nineteenth-century Spanish America. How did poetry partake in the early figuration of national historical imaginaries and in the foundation of their heroic pantheons? Through what languages and aesthetic procedures did it help foster patriotic sentiments and identifications? Was poetry a disciplinary tool for the formation of notions of citizenship and of civic values? Through a series of close textual readings, we will investigate the nature of the entanglement between the poetical and the demands of the political and inquire if there were moments when this relationship proved to be traversed by frictions, if not impossibilities. Authors we may read are José Joaquín Olmedo, Andrés Bello, Esteban Echeverría, José María Heredia, Plácido, Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, José Hernández, José Gautier Benítez, Juana Borrero, Juan Zorrilla de San Martín, and Lola Rodríguez de Tió, among others. Agnes Lugo-Ortiz. Winter.
33900. El teatro en la corte de Felipe IV. Spectacle plays flourished in the Spanish Golden Age after Philip IV ascended to the throne in 1621. Many of these plays rework mythological materials and make use of mechanical devices and designs prepared by Italian engineers and artists. Not only did these works appeal to the eyes, thus undermining the preeminent role of the poet, but they often included music and dance. And, they were ostensibly written in praise of the king and of his courtiers, who were seen as classical deities walking on earth. Philip's minister, the Count-Duke of Olivares, promoted these works and a vision of Philip as a solar king around whom revolved artists and poets, enjoying his vivifying rays and glorifying his reign. This course will investigate the oppositions between the verbal and the visual, the laudatory and the critical, the Christian and the pagan in a number of plays written during Philip's reign, beginning with Villamediana's La gloria de Niquea and culminating with works by "a true master of the polyphony of the theatrical idiom," Calderón de la Barca. The course will also include a chivalric spectacle play by of one the few women playwrights of the period, Ana Caro. F. de Armas. Autumn.
34103. El mester de clerecía: 1200-1400. This course examines the formation of the clerical mester in the monasteries and nascent universities of medieval Castile and its development over the course of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Of primary concern will be the interplay of profane and sacred themes, oral and textual traditions, and the poetic commingling of juglaría and clerecía during this period. Texts include Libro de Alejandre, Libro de Apolonio, Poema de Fernán González, Milagros de Nuestra Señora, Libro de Miseria de Omne, Libro de buen amor, and Rimado de Palacio. R. Giles. Autumn.
34301. Ekphrasis on Stage: From Cervantes to Calderón. (CMLT 26800-36800) During the early modern age, writing had a strong visual component. Poets and playwrights utilized the sense of sight since it was the highest of the Platonic senses and a mnemonic key to lead spectators to remember vividly what they had read or heard, long before spectacle plays were in fashion. One important technique for visualization was ekphrasis, the description of an art work within a text. For this purpose, playwrights often turned to the mythological canvases of the Italian Renaissance along with the portraits of great rulers and images of battle. Thus, early modern theater could rely on ekphrasis to help the audience visualize a heroic figure, the mysteries love, or an epic conflict. And, noblewomen, in order to acquire agency, would take on the guise of a goddess as portrayed in Italian canvases. Their rule would be most often portrayed in comic plays. We will read plays by Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Tirso de Molina and Calderón as well as ancient, early modern French and Italian plays. Numerous Italian Renaissance paintings will be discussed. F. de Armas. Winter.
34700. Historiografía mestiza. Toward the end of the sixteenth century, bicultural and bilingual historians in Mexico and Peru began rewriting the history of the Spanish conquest in texts that draw on both indigenous and European sources and discursive traditions. In this course, we will study accounts by Andean authors (El Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala) and by those working in New Spain (Diego Muñoz Camargo, Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxóchitl), in order to explore whether and how historiographic form and historical content were revised from a "mestizo" perspective. L. Voigt. Spring.
37700. Historia y memoria: Narrativas de la Transició española. This seminar explores the role of fiction in the representation and commemoration of the Spanish transition to democracy. We will explore the role of fiction in the representation of past events and analyze examples of various modes of historical fiction?the historical novel, historiographical metafiction, novel of memory?in order to explore both the poetics and the politics of these narratives. Authors to be studied may will Martín Gaite, Vázquez Montalbán, Mendicutti, J. Aldecoa, Chirbes, Muñoz Molina, Atxaga, and Rivas. Conducted in Spanish. M. Santana. Winter.
38900. Relaciones de imperio. This course investigates relations between the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Spanish and Portuguese empires by reading from the written relations of these empires: relaciones and relações of discovery and conquest as well as shipwreck and captivity. The juxtaposition of Spanish and Portuguese sources will aim to highlight both the distinctive features of the respective empires and their complex, interconnected histories. Texts to be studied include Columbus's and Pero Vaz de Caminha's letters of "discovery," Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca's Relación, the shipwreck narratives of Gonzalo Fernández Oviedo's Historia general y natural de las Indias and Bernardo Gomes de Brito's História Trágico-Marítima, and the Fidalgo d'Elvas's and the Inca Garcilaso de la Vega's accounts of Hernando de Soto's expedition to Florida. Reading knowledge of Portuguese is recommended but not required. A. Stanton. Autumn.
39400. Teatro del siglo XX. Un recorrido de las obras principales del teatro espanol e hispanoamericano del siglo XX desde el punto de vista de su aporte al desarrollo del espectaculo teatral. De Costa. Autumn.
39501. Poesía, Modernidad e Historia: Octavio Paz. Este curso se centrará en la obra poética y ensayística del escritor mexicano Octavio Paz (1914-1998). Factores como la extensión, la variedad y la complejidad de la obra total de Paz hacen necesaria un enfoque selectivo que identifique momentos centrales y textos idóneos para dar una idea de la continuidad y de las transformaciones de la poesía y del pensamiento poético-ensayístico de Paz. Se propone tomar algunas de las distintas facetas de la obra de Paz en verso y en prosa como objetos de interpretación en sí mismos y también como puntos de partida para reflexionar tanto sobre ciertos dilemas y problemas de la poesía moderna (la teorización y la práctica de la lírica en la época posterior a las vanguardias históricas; la relación de un poeta mexicano con las tradiciones antiguas y modernas de América, Europa y el Oriente) como sobre las peculiaridades y paradojas del ensayo de identidad cultural en México. Se pondrá énfasis en la lectura analítica y conceptual de textos provenientes de los géneros poéticos, ensayísticos y, en menor medida, narrativos. Los textos seleccionados como lecturas recomendadas y obligatorias se cuentan entre los más destacados de toda la obra de Paz y tienen el interés adicional de ofrecer motivos de reflexión sobre la conformación de la modernidad en la tradición poética, crítica e intelectual de México. El punto de partida son los primeros textos y el último núcleo tratará del libro final de poemas. Así, el curso está pensado como una reflexión crítica sobre los rasgos más sobresalientes de la poesía y los ensayos del autor y también como una exploración de la significación más amplia que se puede extraer de las maneras en que un poeta e intelectual moderno intenta resolver o dar cauce a los múltiples conflictos y las hondas tensiones que observa en su propio quehacer y en su entorno. En cada momento se comentarán los textos de Paz en sus versiones en español. Las diez semanas del curso estarán estructuradas de la siguiente manera. A. Stanton. Autumn.
42100. Readings and Research. Staff. Autumn, Winter, Spring.