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Fall Courses 2003
This course will offer a survey of the most influential theories of literature in the 20th century. Among the theoretical perspectives considered will be formalism, structuralism, semiotics, hermeneutics, aesthetics of reception, deconstruction, Bakhtin's dialogical principle, postcolonialism, feminism, and the diverse identity/minority studies which have been developed in the United States since the seventies. The first part of the course will basically focus on European and Anglo-American constructs. The second part will take into account the analytical systems born in the Hispanic world from the urgency to explain the differential traits and the specific production's conditions of their own literary enterprises. In this context special attention will be devoted to notions such as "transculturación" (Ángel Rama) and "literaturas heterogéneas" (Antonio Cornejo Polar). The analysis of politicized points of view will debate the ethical-political need of examining the gap between theory and practice, as well as the academic institutionalization of radical theories.
This course will deal with problems surrounding the preparation of the critical edition of a literary text. After a brief historical overview of the origin and development of modern philology, it will describe the process and material elements that go into the production of the manuscript and printed text. The course will provide a brief examination of the philological terminology and its correct application in order to understand the main theories from different literary traditions thus far advanced in the field of textual criticism. Upon completion of the presentation of such a detailed introduction, the course will then focus on the analysis of the main types of critical editions most commonly in use. To this end, the course will examine very closely the contributions and shortcomings of the latest theories of textual criticism regarding the manuscript tradition, of textual bibliography and its printed tradition and the most recent proposal regarding the genetic or author's philology. Texts for the course will be announced later.
This course examines the grammatical structure of Spanish from formal and functional perspectives. It examines the major syntactic categories of Spanish as described in sentence-based grammars, as these are conceived in traditional and formal theories that seek explanation in innate and universal factors. The course also considers grammatical structure from a functional perspective that seeks explanation in communication and other extra-systemic factors. Topics will include the order of subject and verb, the choice of object clitic pronouns, variable use of subject pronouns, heavy NP-shifting, and adverbial placement.
This course is designed; as a collective effort aimed at examining major textual problems of La Celestina. It deals primarily with questions relating to the early stages of the textual tradition of the Comedia in its manuscript and printed form: from the manuscript fragment to the early versions in 16 acts to the Tragicomedia in 21 acts. Focusing on the most significant additions, interpolations and substitutions we will consider the role that printers, correctors, booksellers and the reading public played in the evolution of this most puzzling text. Attention will also be paid to the genesis of the work and to the problem of multiple authorship, exploring, at the same time, some of the ramifications implicit in these issues. Through a close analysis of the variants and of the nature of the errors, we will review the stemmas already proposed and try to restore, whenever possible, the correct reading of the text. As a supplement to the philological praxis of the neo-Lachmannean method that only deals with single textual problems, we will strive to relate the individual lectio to the entire work. To this end, emphasis will be placed on documentary evidence (humanist comedies, letters, treatises) as possible sources for resolving specific textual corruptions and unexplained obscure readings. Text to be used in the course: Fernando de Rojas, Comedia o Tragicomedia de Calisto y Melibea, ed. P. Russell, Madrid: Castalia. Supplementary edition to be consulted in class: Fernando de Rojas ( y "Antiguo Autor"). La Celestina. Tragicomedia de Calisto y Melibea. Edición y estudio de F. J. Lobera y G. Serés, P. Díaz-Mas, C. Mota, I. Ruiz Aralluz, y F., Rico. Barcelona: Crítica, 2000. Fotocopies and facsimile editions of the manuscript fragment and incunabula will be made available to the class. P. Botta, Edizione critica della Celestina di Fernando de Rojas (dall'Atto VIII alla Fine), Facoltà di Lettere, Università di Roma "La Sapienza"; Celestina. Tragicomedia de Calisto y Melibea, Fernado de Rojas. Introducción y edición crítica de Miguel Marciales, al cuidado de B. Dutton y J. Snow. University of Illinois Press: Urbana and Chicago,1985, 2 vols.
This course studies language contact situations in the Spanish-speaking world from the perspective of the Sociology of Language. The course analyzes different types of contact situations and simultaneously proposes discussion of topics such as linguistic minorities, language and identity, language maintenance and shift, language policy, and language rights.
Taking as point of departure the theoretical tenets developed by Mario Perniola in his book El arte y su sombra (Madrid, Cátedra, 2002), the introduction to the critical essay by José Olivio Jiménez, Cinco poetas del tiempo (Madrid, Insula, 1964 y 1972) and the prologues by Dionisio Cañas, Poesía y percepción (Madrid, Hiperión, 1984) y El poeta y la ciudad (Madrid, C´tedra, 1994), we will explore, within the realm of 20th Century Spanish aesthetic discourses, the texts of several poets and some visual artists who have reflected on the dual tendencies of Occidental aesthetics: moving away from, and approaching the real, time and intemporality. Among the poets studied will be José Hierro, Jaime Gil de Biedma, D´maso Alonso, Vicente Aleixandre, Luis Cernuda, Miguel Hern´ndez, Clara Janés, Blas de Otero, Claudio Rodríguez, Francisco Brines, José Ángel Valente and Gloria Fuertes. Among the visual artists, we will see some works by Antoni Tapies, Antonio López García, and Luis Gordillo, the artists of Grupo El Paso and the Spanish pop of Grupo Crónica, as well as some films produced in Spain (between 1969-1999).
Conclusiones Lecturas
This course studies theoretical approaches to nationalism and to the role assigned to language in the various deployments of this ideology. More specifically, the course will focus on nation building in Latin America and Spain with particular emphasis on the integration of language in nationalist discourses.
This course will examine Neruda's major poetic works, the most significant critical studies of this work, and the influence of this work on contemporary Latin American poetry. The seminar seeks to result in a conference and a volume of critical studies in honor of the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Neruda in 2004. Required reading will be works of Neruda: Veinte poemas de amor y una canción desesperada; Residencia en la tierra; Canto general; Odas elementales; Estravagario; and Cien sonetos de amor. Critical works will consist of: Alonso, Amado. Poesía y poética de Pablo Neruda. Madrid: Gredos, 1997; De Costa, René. The Poetry of Pablo Neruda. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1979; Felstiner, John. Translating Neruda: the way to Macchu Picchu. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press, 1980; Gottlieb, Marlene. Pablo Neruda and Nicanor Parra Face to Face : a bilingual and critical edition of their speeches. Lewiston: E. Mellen Press, 1997; and Rodríguez Monegal, Emir. Neruda: El viajero inmóvil. Barcelona: Laia, 1988.
This course focuses on the treatment of memory as a novelistic subject in the post-repression narrative of Argentina and Chile. They are part of a more general trend, in the last decades, to evoke and give new meaning to historical experiences through fictional representation. In their visions of the past, the imagination gives shape to personal and collective memories. Going beyond recorded history, they explore the intimate connection of individual and community consciousness to historical experience. In the process, they question traditional interpretations of events, as well as the ideologies that defined the meaning of national and cultural identity since the 19th Century. Taking into account relevant theoretical approaches to our subject, we will analyze works by three representative authors, whose views of the past have been shaped by the experience of repression in their respective countries: Mempo Giardinelli, Ana María Shua, and Alberto Fuguet.
Open to all doctoral candidates at the Graduate Center. Interested students who are matriculated as doctoral students at Columbia University, New York University, Teacher's College, Fordham University and The New School may register for this course as part of the Inter University Cross Registration Agreement. Further information and registration procedures may be obtained through the Graduate Dean's office on your campus. Other interested students may register as non-degree students with the permission of the Executive Officer of the CUNY Graduate Center's Ph.D. Program in Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Literatures and Languages, Professor Lía Schwartz. For information please call the office of the program at 212-817-8410 or e-mail Asantiago@gc.cuny.edu.
The third of these seminars that our Program offers in conjunction with the Hispanic Society of America, and with support from the Fundación Duques de Soria and the Junta de Castilla y León is conceived as an introduction to the study and editing of Hispanic Colonial texts. Designed to provide students with the skills necessary to make use of manuscripts and early printed texts in their research, the practical component of the course will offer a basic preparation in paleography and will focus on identifying and transcribing the various scripts and printed texts. The course will also address the transcription of texts into machine-readable format. The theoretical component will be covered by four guest lecturers who will deal with specific problems encountered in the editing of different early modern genres, drama, poetry, and fiction. The course will be taught by Dr. John O'Neill, Curator of Manuscripts and Rare Books at the Hispanic Society of America.
Indianismo, indigenismo and neo-indigenismo are major trends in the cultural history of Spanish America. This course aims to rethink these categories by: 1) situating them in the interplay of the political, social and aesthetic debates that contributed to their development; and 2) by underscoring their links to conceptualizations such as mestizaje, transculturation, otherness, subalternity, hybridity. The texts to be analyzed offer an overview of the most prominent issues and the technical complexities faced by their authors when attempting to represent ethnic, religious and linguistic diversity. Special attention will be paid to the relationship between literary and pictorial indigenismo. Among the projected authors and works to be covered are: 1) Clorinda Matto de Turner, Aves sin nido (1889); 2) Jorge Icaza, Huasipungo (1934); 3) Jacomé, Por qué se fueron las garzas; 4) Mariano Azuela, Los de abajo (1915); 5) Rosario Castellanos, Balún-Canán (1957); 6) José María Arguedas, Los ríos profundos (1958). The specialized bibliography will be distributed in class. With Interdisciplinary Concentration in Translation
This seminar will examine the theory and practice of translation and its significance for literary studies. Special attention will be given to translation as interpretation, and as both a critical and creative act. We will examine the notions of literal vs. literary translation; the notion of the untranslatable; the impact of translation on the understanding and reception of literature(s) and culture(s). The course will focus particularly on the translation of Spanish American literature into English--the second half of the course will be a translation workshop. Part of the course activity will include guest lectures by distinguished translators. Students will be responsible for weekly presentations and a final paper that can be a translation. Texts: Suzanne Jill Levine, The Subversive Scribe: Translating Latin American Fiction (Graywolf Press, 1991); Lawrence Venuti, The Translation Studies Reader (Routledge, 2000) |
SPAN 70200 - Spanish Literary Theory:
GC, Thursday, 4:15-6:15 p.m., Room 4422, 3 credits, Professor Reisz, [45202]
