Spanish World Literature: Reading Latin America and Spain

In this course, we will read a variety of literary texts from Latin America and Spain. As such, we will explore Spanish as World Literature, in different genres (novel, short story, essay, poetry) and periods. By analysing the differences and similarities between these texts, we will engage with Hispanic history, politics and culture through the lens of literature. The content of this course changes every time it is taught so that students could re-take it multiple times. SPAN3100 will focus on a variety of potential topics related to Spanish World Literature. The course content, assessment structure, and reading list will change depending on the topics and the expertise of the lecturer convening the course. Please refer to class summary for the specific term in which you wish to enroll for a detailed description. Topics may include, but are not limited to: - Great Works of Latin American World Literature This course will introduce students to the life, works, and socio-historical context of some of the most significant writers of Latin American World Literature in the 20th Century. For instance, student’s will encounter great and world-renowned authors such as Jorge Luis Borges, Mario Vargas Llosa, Julio Cortázar, Gabriel García Márquez, Clarice Lispector, Isabel Allende, and Ariel Dorfman, to understand their artistic contribution to their nations and indeed the world. It will equip students with skills in close reading, comparative analysis of texts, the study of social and artistic movements, concepts in the sociology of art as well as world literature studies. - Crímenes Perfectos: Hispanic Crime Fiction In this course, we will read a variety of fictional narratives (novels, short novels and short stories) that use crime to talk about something else: violence and political power. The literary treatment of perfect crimes will work as a compass for us to read and discuss Hispanic literary masterpieces, as violence and political power are essential to understand narratives written throughout the Spanish-speaking world: from Colombia, Mexico and Argentina to Chile, Spain and Peru. We will see how these texts challenge a series of intersections: the pen and the sword, personification, personalism and depersonalization, aesthetical and political representation, mythology and history, masculinity and sovereignty. By analyzing the differences and similarities between these authors, we will engage with Hispanic history, politics and culture through the lens of fiction. - 21st Century Hispanic World Literature This course will introduce students to the state of the art of contemporary Spanish and Latin American fiction. It will consider literature’s relationship to politics and (post-) dictatorship, social and ecological movements, neoliberalism and the book industry, as well as the nation and the world. Students will become acquainted with rising starts of Spanish literature World Literature, including Roberto Bolaño, Junot Díaz, Samanta Schweblin, Mariana Enriquez, Nona Fernández, Alejandro Zambra and Benjamín Labatut. It will equip students with skills in close reading, comparative analysis of texts, the study of social and artistic movements, concepts in the sociology of art as well as world literature studies. - Picturing Latin America and Spain From the mean streets of Buenos Aires to México City’s Colonia Roma, from the labyrinthine Paraguayan markets in Asunción to the revolutionary corners of 1960s Havana, from the oppressive atmosphere of Francoist Spain to modern-day Chile —in this course, we will watch a variety of feature films from across Latin America and Spain, examining how they picture socio-political as well as aesthetic turning points in Hispanic film history. We will read these audio-visual texts through a series of intersections such as aesthetical and political representation; fiction and history; masculinity and violence; feminism and agency; gender and class; Spanish and Indigenous languages and cultures.