Spring Courses 2006

Span 70500 - Introduction to Spanish Syntax: GC, Tuesday, 4:15-6:15 p.m., 3 credits, Prof. Otheguy, [94102] (cross-listed with LING 75600)

The course starts with a presentation of the basic syntactic structures of Spanish as these appear in standard works such as Alarcos Llorach's Gramática. It then moves on to consideration of special topics such as alternations in the placement of the adjective for meaningful effect, the role of length and information structure in producing favored and disfavored word-order patterns, the patterns of voseo and tuteo, the variable use of subject pronouns, the nature of gender marking, the placement of adverbs, and the meanings of the object pronoun system. The course also looks at dialectal features such as the redundant use of possessives in Mainland varieties and the hardening of word order, the erosion of Personal A, and the rise of non-referential subject pronouns in the Caribbean.

Span 72900 - Introduction to Spanish Sociolinguistics: GC, Tuesday, 4:15-6:15 p.m., 3 credits, Prof. Makihara [94332] (cross-listed with ANTH 77000 and LING 79100)

Language is one of the most important resources in the conduct of our social life. Linguistic behavior is the central focus of many social settings, and it is also on linguistic evidence that we base many of our evaluations of the world around us. Yet attitudes toward language and how we use language are highly dependent on social and cultural factors, which also influence how and why language changes. This course is an introduction to linguistic anthropology (the study of the relationship between language and culture and of the use of languages in socio-cultural context). We will examine the nature of language, its role in our social life, and linguistic and anthropological theory and methodology through reading ethnographic and sociolinguistic case studies and discourse analyses. Topics examined include: linguistic and communicative competence, linguistic structure and use, language universals, linguistic relativity, language acquisition and socialization, verbal politeness, the relationship between language change and variation, gender, ethnicity and nationalism, language and political economy, bilingualism, and linguistic ideology.

Span 73100 - Spanish in the Americas: GC, Thursday, 6:30-8:30 p.m., 3 credits, Prof. Lerner [94104]

This course will focus on the study of the language spoken in the Americas as a modality of Castilian Spanish. Among the issues to be examined will be the main features of sixteenth century Spanish at the levels of phonology, morphology and syntax; the regional varieties spoken by the settlers and their influence on the development of the language in America; the Andalusian theory; the indigenous languages of the continent and the languages of Africa: their impact upon American Spanish and the issue of the Creole languages. Other important considerations will include the study of contemporary Spanish as it is spoken and written today in the countries of the American world.

Span 75700 - Twentieth-Century Narrative since 1936: GC, Monday, 6:30-8:30 p.m., 3 credits, Prof. Sherzer [94105]

The Spanish novel of the late Franco years (tardofranquismo)

This course will deal with five novels that are essential to an understanding of the cultural and literary transition that takes place between the late nineteen-fifties and the early nineteen-seventies. These novels, aside from their indisputable literary merit, will afford the student the opportunity to experiment fully with cultural and political approaches to the study of literature, given their close connection to the political and social changes that Spain underwent in these decades.

Span 76500 - Spanish-American Fiction to the Mexican Revolution: GC, Wednesday, 4:15-6:15 p.m., 3 credits, Prof. Guiñazu [94106]

This course provides a comprehensive exploration of some of the most important foundational novels of the national literatures. The texts will be studied, not only in relation with the literary movements of the time, but also in reference to their respective political and social contexts. Moreover, we will consider how they represent the concepts of race, class, and gender while establishing the pertinent differences among them. Required texts: Esteban Echeverría, El matadero; Isaacs, Jorge. María; Villaverde, Cirilo. Cecilia Valdés; Eugenio Cambaceres, Sin rumbo; Clorinda Matto de Turner, Aves sin nido; Mercedes Cabello de Carbonera, Blanca Sol; reading of additional critical materials is also required.

Span 77300 - Contemporary Spanish-American Poetry since 1950: GC, Monday, 4:15-6:15 p.m., 3 credits, Prof. Gottlieb [94107]

This survey course will deal with the major trends in Latin American poetry since 1950. Special attention will be paid to poetic language; the poetic voice, the "authority" of the author and the use of dramatic monologue and personae; incorporation of popular culture; intertextuality and linguistic collage. Among the poets to be studied are Octavio Paz, Nicanor Parra, Enrique Lihn, Rafael Cadenas, Alejandra Pizarnik and Carlos Germán Belli.

Span 81000 - Seminar: Studies in Medieval Literature: GC, Thursday, 4:15-6:15 p.m., 4 credits, Prof. Di Camillo [94108]

This course will focus on the various problems still surrounding the genesis and authorship of the work, its textual tradition and the many interpretations that have been given through the ages. Special attention will be given to the texts, all incomplete, of the extant three manuscripts in order to shed some light on the many ambiguities of the text, to restore, whenever possible, the correct lesson in cases of evident corruption, to explain the process of the material composition and to account for the considerable textual loss in each of the manuscript. The course will also focus on the intellectual background of the probable author, his readings, his sources, his intended audience and his place within a specific literary tradition that seems to be both Castilian and European in scope. In examining the various interpretations of the work thus far advanced, we will examine very closely the contributions and shortcomings of past and present explanations of the Libro as well as the underlying literary theories on which they are based. Edition to be used in class: Juan Ruiz, Arcipreste de Hita, Libro de buen amor, ed. Alberto Blecua, Madrid: Cátedra. References will be made to other critical editions: Libro de buen amor, ed. Giorgio Chiarini, Milano-Napoli: Ricciardi, 1964; Libro de buen amor, ed. Joan Corominas, Madrid: Gredos, 1967; Libro de buen amor, ed. Jaques Joset, Madrid: Clásicos Castellanos, 1974; Libro de buen amor, ed. G.B. Gybbon -Monypenny, Madrid: Castalia, 1988. Diplomatic edition: Libro de buen amor, ed. Manuel Criado de Val and Eric. W. Naylor, Madrid: Gredos, 1972. Relevant bibliography will be distributed in class.

Span 82200 - Seminar: Spanish Literature of the Baroque: GC, Wednesday, 6:30-8:30 p.m., 4 credits, Prof. Schwartz [94109]

Góngora's Fábula de Polifemo y Galatea: Texts and Literary and Ideological Contexts

This seminar will focus upon Góngora's Polifemo, its classical antecedents and some recreations that were composed in Italy and in Spain before 1613, the year when Andrés de Almanza y Mendoza started circulating Góngora's major narrative poems, the Fábula de Polifemo y Galatea and Soledades. Its purpose will be a twofold one: on the one hand, to examine Góngora's poetical text in the context of Baroque aesthetics, studying its rhetorical language and disposition by referring to B. Gracián's treatise, Agudeza y arte de ingenio; on the other, to reconstruct some mechanisms of textual production in the Baroque by relating Góngora's poem to its sources - Odyssey, IX, Aeneid, III, Ovid's Metamorphoses, XIII, Theocritus' Idylls IV and XI - and to some European translations and imitations, among them, Marino's Rime Boscherecce, T. Stigliani's Il Polifemo. Stanze Pastorali, and Luis Carrillo y Sotomayor's Fábula de Acis y Galatea. The Polifemo will be also studied as the result of Góngora's experimentation with the poetical genres that were practiced in the late Renaissance, and the development of new techniques in his artistic trajectory to the composition of the major poems: Polifemo and Soledades.

Span 87000 - Seminar: Special Topics in Spanish Literature: GC, Thursday, (2:00-4:00 p.m.), Friday, (2:00-6:00 p.m.), Saturday, (10:00 a.m.-2:00p.m.), 2 credits, Prof. Bou [94110]. Course meets March 16-18 and April 27-29 only.

Modernitats (Modernidades/Modernities)

In this course we will explore the many versions of Modernity in Catalan culture of the Nineteenth and Twentieth centuries and its situation in a Spanish and European context. Special attention will be devoted to issues of national identity, religious and lay approaches to culture, traditionalism and Avant-garde. Reading materials will include: Jacint Verdaguer, Joan Maragall, Víctor Català, Eugeni d'Ors, Salvador Dalí, J.V. Foix, Mercè Rodoreda, Josep Pla, Salvador Espriu.

Span 87100 - Seminar: Special Topics in Spanish-American Literature: GC, Tuesday, 4:15-6:15 p.m., 4 credits, Prof. Reisz [94111]

This seminar will focus on Borges as canonized author and as canon-builder critic, as creator and analyst of himself and the others, as hyper-conscious writer and wise reader of literature and philosophy, as revered author of fictions and promoter (or severe judge) of other authors. Special attention will be devoted to his short notes as well as his reviews of real or imaginary books; to his prologs and anthologies; to his epigraphs and even to the footnotes that add most times ironic or ludicrous tones to his fictions. Based on these materials we will search for clues of Borges's aesthetic and ideological preferences and of the fundamentals of his own writing. We will try to re/construct a Borgesian ars poetica (as well as a Borgesian ars phantastica) to reach a better understanding of Borges's literary ideals, of his work as actualization of those ideals, and of his influence in the constitution of a postmodern canon. Among the books that will be analyzed are the following: Borges, Jorge Luis - Silvina Ocampo - Adolfo Bioy Casares. Antología de la literatura fantástica, and Borges, Jorge Luis. El Aleph, Ficciones, Discusión, Otras inquisiciones, Prólogos con un prólogo de prólogos, Textos cautivos.

Span 87200 - Seminar: Special Topics in Hispanic Literature: GC, Tuesday, 6:30-8:30 p.m., 4 credits, Prof. Mercado [94112]

This seminar will focus on the Argentine Generation of 1837. For the first time in Argentine history, this generation called attention to the trauma of nationality in gestation. The men of 37 wanted to build a nation out of a sparsely populated country that at the time had semi-civilized oases subjected to the feudal force of the caudillos. The names of the Generation of 37 remain that of figures unequalled, like that of founders, that is to say, of some who can be discussed or disputed at will, but whom one cannot disregard. Based on that, we will discuss some important issues such as the national consciousness, the idea of progress, travel as a construction of modernity. Among the authors studied will be Echeverría, Sarmiento, Alberdi, and Gutiérrez.

Span 78600 - Practicum in Translation: GC, Wednesday, 6:30-8:30 p.m., 3 credits, Prof. Glickman [94322]

Translating film scripts: English-Spanish; Spanish-English

This course will focus on topics of Hispanic immigration, exile and diaspora. It will derive its material from movie scripts, documentaries and fiction. Translations from Spanish into English: Previously untranslated Hispanic film scripts include works by Jorge Goldemberg, Laura Restrepo, Miguel Barnet and Luis R. Sánchez. For translations from English into Spanish the material will be based on fiction and on critical articles on immigration, exile and diaspora. Several professional translators and film producers will be sharing their experiences with the class.