Spring 2000

MDLG 233 - Latin American Literature in Translation

Professor Gustavo Remedi

T-Th 1:15-2:30 pm, Office Hrs. T-Th 3-5 pm

This course is aimed at a broad and general audience. No knowledge of Spanish is required—unless you decide to take it as SPAN 233 and want it to count towards your Major in Spanish, your minor in Spanish Studies, or your Language Concentration in Spanish. Taken as SPAN 233, however, students must read half of the works in Spanish and write both, the midterm and the final in Spanish. You can also make it count towards your Latin American Studies Major and Minor (LASP 233).

I. Description and objectives of the course

This survey course introduces students to a set of key Latin American literary works of the 20th Century. It covers various regional cultural formations (Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, South America) and various literary traditions and kinds of literary practices (the literature of "the encounter", travel diaries and testimonies, the novel of the revolution, the new novel, historical novel, historical essay ) in an attempt to get acquainted and discuss a variety of central social and cultural issues (I. e. depicting, and making sense of Latin America as a distinct place and culture, nation-building, neo-colonialism, dictatorship, human rights, revolution, race, ethnicity, gender).

Attention will be paid to the cultural background and the specific literary forms of expression created by each author—usually, as responses to other texts and cultural practices—as well as to the social, political and historical context within which these texts gain meaning and significance. Indeed, aware that the course is as much about Latin American literature as about Latin American history, society and culture in general, the course is structured around the theme of the voyage through space and time (through the Americas, and its history).

On top of discussing the way writers and “the institution of literature” (publishing houses, the market, the State, scholarly authorities, universities, the cultural institutions around us, the socio-political context, etc.) produce both the texts and their readers, we will also discuss how readers produce their own texts by approaching the texts from various angles, wearing various critical lenses and asking specific set of questions (which is the purpose of the discipline of “literary analysis, interpretation and criticism”).

Now, in spite of stressing and reaffirming the specificity and difference of Latin American culture the course also explores the ways in which these texts relate to us in our place and time. Yet, rather than presuming some kinf of natural, “realistic” or unproblematic notion of time and space, we will also explore the way in which Latin American culture challenges—and propose new ways of understanding—time and space.

II. Course Plan

January

Class # 1 Intro to the course

Class # 2 Alejo Carpentier, “Journey Back to the Source” (Cuba), [Handout]

Class # 3 Ernesto Guevara, The Motorcycle Diaries (Argentina)

Class # 4 Julio Cortázar, “The Night Face Up” (Argentina), in Blow Up

Jorge L. Borges, “The South” (Argentina) [Handout]

February

Class # 5 Alvaro Mutis, “The Snow of the Admiral” (Colombia), in Eight novellas

Class # 6 Alejo Carpentier, “The Road to Santiago” (Cuba), in Eight novellas

Gabriel García Márquez (Colombia), “Nobel Prize Lecture” [Handout]

Class # 7-9 Alejo Carpentier, The Lost Steps (Cuba)

Film 1: Les Blanc's The Burden of Dreams

Mid-Session

Class # 10-12 Carlos Fuentes, The Death of Artemio Cruz (México)

Film 2: Antonio Eguino's Chuquiago (Bolivia)

March

Class # 13-14 Gabriel García Márquez, The General in its Labyrinth (Colombia)

MIidterm Exam due Monday 13, before 10 AM

Class # 15 Julio Cortázar, “Blow Up” (Argentina), in Blow Up

Class # 16-18 Eduardo Galeano, The Open Veins of Latin America (Uruguay)

Spring Vacation

Class # 19-20 Film 3: Costa Gavras, Stage of Siege (Uruguay)

Jacobo Timerman, Prisioner without a name, cell without a number (Argentina)

Nunca más, The Official Report (Argentina), [Hand out]

April

Class # 21-22 Gioconda Belli, The Inhabited Woman (Nicaragua)

Class # 23-24 Nancy Morejón, Miguel Barnet and Pedro Pérez Sarduy, in Afro-Cuba

Class # 25-26 Judith Ortiz Cofer, Silence Dancing (Puerto Rico)

Final Exam DUE May 8, before 10 AM

III. Students' obligations and grades

The students must read, in advance, approximately two short stories or one novel per week (some very short, others a bit longer, all in English).

Students must take notes, keep a diary of short weekly entries or “reaction notes” (collected every other Thursday at the end of the class), and actively participate in class interpretations and discussions. Students (individually or in teams) will be assigned short research projects (a minimum of two during the course) which will be the basis for the two formal presentations in class. In addition, there will be a Midterm and Final exam in which students will have to demonstrate their knowledge of the materials covered, as well as their understanding of class lectures and discussions.

Except for very extraordinary circumstances—which will require a letter from the Dean of Students—, absences will not be excused. More than 3 absences lowers the final grade significantly.

Final Grade:

Preparation (knowledge of the material and, at least,

one bibliographical review per author), notes and class participation 20%

Diary of short weekly entries or “reaction notes” 20%

Research projects and "team presentations" 10% each (total 20%)

Midterm 20%

Final 20%

Calendar

Final exam due: Monday May 8th, before 10 AM)