31043 - Spanish Literature 1

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course students should know the general outline of literary history. They should be able to read, understand and translate texts from Spanish into Italian and they should also be acquainted with the methods and analytical tools they need to interpret the works of the main authors, contextualising them within their cultural and historical period.

Course contents

The contemporary Spanish literature.

 

We will study the most important spanish literary products of the contemporary age, and their lines of development, with a sketch of the main cultural phenomena of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It will be studied the following topics:

 

1. Towards modernity

 

            1.1 Outline of the history of Spain in the eighteenth and early nineteenth century

            1.2 Special features of the Spanish Enlightenment culture in the European context

            1.3 The romantic models

 

 2. The realist novel in Spain in the nineteenth century

            2.1 Cultural and social systems of the second half of the century

            2.2 The reflection upon literature.

            2.3 Galdós

            2.4 Elements of interpretation of narrative text

 

3. The awareness of the crisis and the construction of an idea of Spain

            3.1 Modernism and poetry

            3.2. The reflection upon the novel

            3.3. García Lorca and the vanguard

            3.4 The renewal of the theater

 

4. Civil War and dictatorship

            4.1 Social conflict and existential: the tremendismo (Cela).

            4.2 The plural Spain: repression and the literature of exile

            3.3. The construction of a cultural memory and social realism (Delibes)

 

5. Spain's transición.

            5.1 The book industry in democratic Spain

            5.2 Experimentation and metaliterature (Martín Gaite)

            5.3 Towards the postmodern narrative (Mendoza)

            5.4 The literature of plural Spain

 

6. The narrative of the Third Millennium

            6.1 National Literature and globalization

            6.2 Literary writing and the reconstruction of a historical memory (Cercas, Rosa).

Readings/Bibliography

Reference books:

- Antonucci, Fausta, Il Novecento letterario spagnolo: percorsi, Roma, ETS, 2004

- Ceserani, Remo, Guida breve allo studio della letteratura, Bari, Laterza, 2003, "Il testo narrativo", pp. 100-129  e "La letteratura e i lettori", pp. 130-148.

Literary texts:

Expected reading of 4 texts, the following 3 are mandatory:


 

1. Pérez Galdós, Benito, Misericordia, ed. recommended by  L. García Lorenzo, Madrid, Cátedra, last ed.

2. García Lorca, Federico, Bodas de sangre, ed. and trans. by E. Pittarello, Nozze di sangue, Venezia, Marsilio, 2013

3. Cela, Camilo José, La familia de Pascual Duarte, Madrid, Destino, last ed.

 

The fourth text is chosen from the following:

 

4. Mendoza, Eduardo, La verdad sobre el caso Savolta, Barcelona, Seix Barral, 1975

5. Martín Gaite, Carmen, El Cuarto de atrás, Madrid, Destino, 1978

6. Marías, Javier, Mañana en la batalla piensa en mí, Madrid, Alfaguara, 1996

7. Cercas, Javier, Soldados de Salamina, Barcelona, Tusquets, 2001

8. Chacón, Dulce, La voz dormida, Madrid, Alfaguara, 2002

9. Rosa, Isaac, El vano ayer, Madrid, Seix Barral, 2005


 

Further references will be made available on-line in the file "MATERIALI DIDATTICI" downloadable (pdf).

Teaching methods

Traditional teaching with the use of digital texts partly available on line.

Assessment methods

The examination consists of two inseparable parts: a written test lasting a maximum of 90 minutes and a subsequent oral examination, to be supported after approximately 24/48 hours of sustaining the written test, based on the number of students and the availability of the teacher. The written test consists of 5 open questions concerning, in order: 1 topic of cultural history; 1 topic of literary history; 1 topic of description of a literary text; 1 topic of description of a specific aspect within a literary text; 1 comment to a fragment of a literary text. The oral examination consists of a discussion of the results of the written test and further aspect required by the teacher from the themes of the written text. It will also be verified the linguistic understanding of literary texts provided in the course. The final grade will be the average of its individual parts (written and oral). It will be tested the descriptive knowledge of the topics covered during the course, the ability to contextualize the cultural and literary phenomena and to identify the originality of the texts studied. It will also be evaluated the ability of critical synthesis of bibliography, as well as expressive properties, in terms of accuracy and appropriateness of language. Overall knowledge of the cultural-historical period and specifically literary, and ease of use of the reference texts to support this vision, will be evaluated as excellent, while a general knowledge without support interpretation will be considered by an affirmative vote but not high. Finally, the proven and repeated difficulty in creating descriptive and logical connections between cultural phenomena and literary texts make insufficient evaluation.

Teaching tools

Teaching materials will be available on-line; extensive use will be made of the projector to display summary, concepts, fragments of text, images and video sequences, it will be provided on-line weekly the slides used during the lessons.

Office hours

See the website of Marco Presotto