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

MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY SPANISH LITERATURE

The course will examine the historical-literary period from the 18th century to the Contemporary period and will be based on the study of the representation of reality in its various articulations (formation, negation and fragmentation) and on forms of communication and their increasing importance in the Contemporary period.

Texts by Benito Pérez Galdós, Miguel de Unamuno, Federico García Lorca, Carmen Martín Gaite, Juan José Millás will be analysed using historical, philosophical and literary theory tools. The following topics will be explored: Enlightenment, romanticism, positivism, realism, existentialism, avant-gardes, Francoism, neorealism, postmodernism, current trends.

Readings/Bibliography

PRINCIPAL TEXTS:

Benito Pérez Galdós, Marianela, 1878.

Miguel de Unamuno, Niebla, 1914.

Federico García Lorca, selection of poems (will be indicated and made available during the course)

Carmen Martín Gaite, El cuarto de atrás, 1978.

Juan José Millás, La soledad era esto, 1990.

The texts must be read in the original language and in their complete version.

ON-LINE MATERIALS
The materials published online during the course are obligatory

REFERENCE MANUALS:

Danilo Manera (coord.), Letteratura spagnola contemporanea, Milano, Pearson, 2020

Lina Rodríguez, Manual de historia de la literatura española. 2. Siglos XVIII-XX, Madrid, Castalia, 2009

 

Teaching methods

Traditional teaching with the use of digital texts, in italian and in spanish.

Assessment methods

Oral examination. The oral test consists of 3 open questions concerning: topic of cultural or philosophical history; topic of literary history; topic of description of a literary text; topic of description of a specific aspect within a literary text; comment to a fragment of a literary text. It will be verified the linguistic understanding of literary texts provided in the course. 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

Multi-media computer and projector. Dossiers will be included on the website.

Office hours

See the website of Luigi Contadini