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A journey from Modernism to Contemporary literature in Latin America

Class at Faculty of Arts |
ASPV0065

Syllabus

Schedule with primary texts: 1.class Theme: Modernism´s prose: Short story.

Texts: B. Lillo – Sub Terra/ Sub Sole; Horacio Quiroga - Jungle Tales, Stories of Love, Madness, and Death; Ruben Darío – Azul; Leopoldo Lugones – The Strange Forces 2.class Theme: Modernism. What does “Our America” mean?

Texts: José Martí – Simple Verses, Our America; M.G.Prada – Exotics, Peruvian ballads, Our Indians; Ruben Darío – Profane prose, Songs of life and hope; Alfonso Reyes - Visión de Anahuac; José Enrique Rodó - Ariel 3.class Theme: View of postmodernism and avantgarde through poetry.

Texts: Delmira Augustini – White books, Empty Chalices; Huidobro – Altazor; César Vallejo – Black Heralds; Alfonsina Storni – The restless rose garden, The sweet injury, Ochre; Gabriela Mistral – Desolation, Sonnets of Death, Tenderness 4. class Theme: Regionalism - selva, pampa, caudillismo.

Texts: José Eustasio Rivera – The vortex; Rómulo Gallegos – Doña Bárbara; Ricardo Güiraldes – Don Segundo Sombra 5.class Theme: New Hispanic America´s prose and Magic realism.

Texts: A. Carpentier – The lost steps; Asturias – The President; J. Rulfo - Pedro Páramo and others  6.class Theme: The Latin American Boom.

Texts: Ernesto Sábato - The Tunnel; J.M. Arguedas - Deep Rivers; Carlos Fuentes – The Death of Artemio Cruz 7.class Theme: Gabriel García Márquez.

Texts: G.G. Márquez – One hundred years of solitude (1967); Chronicle of a Death Foretold (1982); Love in the Time of Cholera (1985) 8.class Theme: Mario Vargas Llosa.

Texts: Mario Vargas Llosa – The Time of the Hero (1963); The green house (1966); Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter (1977); The Feast of The Goat 9.class Theme: The post-boom literature.

Texts: Puig – Heartbreak Tango; Bolaño – The Savage Detectives; Poniatowska – Here´s to you, Jesusa!/Massacre in Mexico; Laura Esquivel – Like water for chocolate 10.class Theme: Reflections about…

Texts: Carlos Fuentes – Burried mirror; Octavio Paz – Bow and lyre; Jorge Luis Borges - The art of poetry; Westphalen – Las Moradas 11.class Theme: Contemporary Colombian literature.

Texts: Juan Gabriel Vásquez - The Sound of Things Falling; Héctor Abad Faciolince – Oblivion: A Memoir; Tomás González – Difficult Light; Mario Mendoza – Satanás 12.class Theme: Contemporary Argentinian literature.

Texts from: Samantha Schweblin; Pedro Mairal; Mariana Enríquez; Carlos Araya Díaz; Claudia Piñeiro 

Annotation

Course description and objectives:

The seminar will serve as an introduction to Latin America's literature. The aim of every class will be to establish main characteristics of specific historical period or literary movement, starting with Modernism and ending with Contemporary literature. By reading novels, poems and essays from key authors and literary movements, we will get a full idea of historical socio-economic and cultural context. As one of the most famous Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges said: „Besides, rereading, not reading, is what counts.“

Note: This course is intended primarily for Erasmus students. However, after the previous agreement with the lectors, it is possible to make an exception in the case of students from Hispanistics.