Spanish (SPAN)
Chair: Professor Éva Pósfay
Professors: Becky J. Boling, Humberto R. Huergo
Associate Professor: José Cerna-Bazán
Assistant Professor: Jorge Brioso, Silvia L. López
Visiting Assistant Professors: Cynthia J. Kauffeld, Michael Kidd
Senior Lecturers: María E. Doleman, Diane Pearsall
Language Courses:
Language courses 101, 102, 103, 204 are a sequential series of courses designed to prepare the student in the basic language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) through the study of grammar, literature, and culture, and/or to provide the foundation for pursuing advanced work in language and literature. Spanish 205, 206 and 207 are designed to develop the student's spoken and written mastery of the language through compositions and intensive oral work based on cultural and literary topics. Admission to these courses is determined either by appropriate high school CEEB or Carleton placement test scores or by completion of the previous course in the sequence with a grade of C- or better.
Literature Courses:
We examine literary works for both their aesthetic and human values. Our literature courses have a number of goals: to refine and expand students' linguistic ability, to broaden their cultural understanding, to improve their ability to engage in literary analysis, to enhance their knowledge of literary history and criticism, and to help students better understand themselves and the human condition. In our discussions, we address universal themes and concerns, but we also try to uncover what is peculiarly Hispanic or Latin American about the works.
Requirements for a Major:
Sixty-six credits including one of the following courses (205 or 206) and Literary and Cultural Studies 245, the latter normally taken during the junior year. Courses 101, 102, 103, 204 do not count toward the major and no more than 12 credits in the 205-209 sequence may be applied to the major. Similarly, students may not apply over two 240-290 level literature courses to the major. In addition to 66 credits in the major, 6 credits are required in literature outside the major, read in the original language or in translation. Majors must complete at least three courses in Latin American literature and three courses in Peninsular Literature (Spain) before winter term of the senior year. Students also write an integrative exercise during senior year.
Concentration: See separate section for Latin American Studies Concentration.
Programs Abroad: Participation in a Carleton or in another approved foreign study program is highly recommended for students majoring or concentrating in the above areas. Students interested in study abroad should consult the section on international off-campus programs, and discuss alternatives with faculty in French or Spanish and with the Director of Off-Campus Studies.
Language Houses: Students have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the language by living in the Language House. The Associate is a native speaker, and students organize and participate in numerous cultural activities in the language houses.
Certificate of Advanced Study in Foreign Language and Literature: In order to receive the Certificate of Advanced Study in Spanish, students must fulfill the general requirements (refer to Academic Regulations) in the following course distribution: six courses completed with a grade of C- or better in Spanish beyond 103, including at least two upper-level literature courses (300-395). No more than 12 credits from non-Carleton off-campus studies programs may be applied toward the certificate.
Spanish Courses
SPAN 101. Elementary Spanish This course introduces the basic structures of the Spanish language, everyday vocabulary and cultural situations. Students practice all four skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking) in Spanish. Taught five days a week in Spanish. Prerequisite: none (Placement score for students with previous experience in Spanish). 6 credits cr., ND, Fall—Staff
SPAN 102. Elementary Spanish This course introduces complex sentences and various tenses and short literary and cultural texts. Students practice all four skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking) in Spanish. Taught five days a week in Spanish. Prerequisite: Spanish 101 or placement score. 6 credits cr., ND, Winter—Staff
SPAN 103. Intermediate Spanish This course continues the study of complex sentence patterns and reviews basic patterns in greater depth, partly through the discussion of authentic short stories. Students practice all four skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking) in Spanish. Taught five days a week in Spanish. Prerequisite: Spanish 102 or placement score. 6 credits cr., ND, Winter,Spring—Staff
SPAN 204. Intermediate Spanish Through discussion of literary and cultural texts and films, as well as a review of grammar, this course aims to help students acquire greater skill and confidence in both oral and written expression. Taught three days a week in Spanish. Some Spanish 204 sections include a service-learning component, to enrich students' understanding of course material by integrating academic study with public service. The language classes team up with the Northfield public schools to help both Northfield and Carleton students improve their language skills. Prerequisite: Spanish 103 or placement score. 6 credits cr., Fall,Spring—Staff
SPAN 205. Conversation and Composition A course designed to develop the student's oral and written mastery of Spanish. Advanced study of grammar. Compositions and conversations based on cultural and literary topics. There is also an audio-video component focused on current affairs. Prerequisite: Spanish 204 or proficiency. 6 credits cr., ND, Fall,Winter,Spring—J. Cerna-Bazán, J. Brioso, H. Huergo
SPAN 206. Morelia Program: Conversation and Composition This course takes advantage of the native setting in order to expand and develop skills in conversation and composition. In addition, it involves an advanced study of grammar and utilization of on-site resources in order to guide the student toward greater cultural and linguistic fluency. 6 credits cr., ND, Winter—Non-Carleton Faculty
SPAN 207. Exploring Hispanic Culture Designed for the person who wants to develop greater fluency in speaking, writing, and reading Spanish in the context of a broad introduction to Hispanic culture. Short stories, plays, poems, films, and short novels are read with the goal of enhancing awareness of Hispanic diversity and stimulating classroom discussion. Prerequisite: Spanish 204 or proficiency. 6 credits cr., RAD,ND, Not offered in 2004-2005.
SPAN 208. Coffee and News An excellent opportunity to brush up your Spanish while learning about current issues in Spain and Latin America. The class meets only once a week for an hour. Class requirements include reading specific sections of Spain's leading newspaper, El País, everyday on the internet (elpais.es), and then meeting once a week to exchange ideas over coffee with a small group of students like yourself. Prerequisite: Spanish 204 or proficiency. 2 credits cr., S/CR/NC, ND, Fall,Winter,Spring—S. López
SPAN 209. Madrid Program: Exploring Spanish Culture A survey of Spanish history as reflected in literary texts, or putting it differently, learning history the fun way. Topics of discussion include: Jewish and Arabic Spain, the Reconquista, the discovery of the New World, the Spanish Empire, Cervantes, Larra, the First Republic, the Spanish-American War, the Second Republic, the Spanish Civil War, Franco's Spain, the transition to democracy, and the new Spain. 6 credits cr., ND, Fall—Non-Carleton Faculty
SPAN 240. Introduction to Spanish Literature A survey of Spanish literature and culture from the Middle Ages until now. Topics of discussion include: cultural stereotypes (bullfighting and flamenco), Jewish and Arabic Spain, Cervantes and his times, the Spanish Civil War, the Spanish Diaspora, Franco's Spain, the transition to democracy, sex and drugs in the seventies, new Spanish authors, immigration in Spain and the new Spanish cinema. 6 credits cr., AL, Spring—J. Brioso
SPAN 242. Introduction to Latin American Literature An introductory course to reading major texts in Spanish provides an historical survey of the literary movements within Latin American literature from the pre-Hispanic to the contemporary period. Recommended as a foundation course for further study. Not open to seniors. Prerequisite: Spanish 204 or proficiency. 6 credits cr., AL,RAD, Fall—S. López
SPAN 245. Hybrid Cultures: Introduction to U.S. Latino Literature The course will focus on the problem of identity in the writings of the four major groups of Latinos in the United States: Mexican-Americans, Cuban-Americans, Dominican-Americans, and Nuyoricans. It will address the diversity of problems that surface depending on whether the writers are immigrants, first generation English speakers, native to the Southwest but marginalized from American culture, urban dwellers or rural pobladores, men or women, gay or straight. Since this course is offered in the Spanish section, an emphasis is placed on the problem of language (bilingualism and translation), its relation to a general American identity (American defined here as belonging to the Americas, not only the United States), and more broadly to what we have to understand as hybrid cultures. Conducted in English. 6 credits cr., AL,RAD, Not offered in 2004-2005.
SPAN 246. Mexico Program: Introduction to Mexican Literature: The Mexican Short Story A survey of the twentieth century Mexican short story. This course begins with the narrative of the Mexican revolution, and then moves on to examine some key moments in Mexican literature and culture up to the present. Authors read include Mariano Azuela, Arreola, Rulfo, Elena Garro, Rosario Castellanos, and others. Prerequisite: Spanish 204 or proficency. 6 credits cr., AL, Not offered in 2004-2005.
SPAN 247. Madrid Program: Spanish Art from El Greco to Picasso This course is a survey of Spanish art from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries. Classes will meet at some of the finest museums in Madrid, including the Prado Museum and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia (Museum of Modern Art). Art lectures will be supplemented by field trips to Toledo, Barcelona, and Seville. 4 credits cr., AL, Fall—Non-Carleton Faculty
SPAN 248. Morelia Program: Drama and Performance in Latin America Study of contemporary Latin American Theater as a field of experimentation. The course intends to familiarize the student with major trends in theater from Expressionism to Teatro colectivo. The discussions of representative modern plays reveals their multiple nature as spectacle and literature. For this reason, another facet of this study will be the actual theatrical experience. Depending on the season, students will have ample opportunity to attend performances of several plays in Morelia, Mexico. 6 credits cr., AL,RAD, Winter—D. Pearsall
SPAN 250. Spanish Cinema This course will study Spanish film from 1950s to the present. Through the study of the social and political processes involved in the conception of time and memory we will discuss the work of internationally recognized filmmakers such as Luis Buñuel, Luis García Berlanga, Mario Camus, Carlos Saura, Victor Erice and Pedro Almodóvar. Prerequisites: Spanish 204 or proficiency. 6 credits cr., AL, Not offered in 2004-2005.
SPAN 252. Telling Stories: The Short Story in Latin America We will study collections of short stories by well-known Latin American authors such as Juan Rulfo, Cristina Peri Rossi, Isabel Allende, Julio Cortázar, Jorge Luis Borges, and Gabriel García Márquez. How does the short story differ from other narratives? What possibilities of form and content does the short story provide? We will explore how this genre represents contemporary issues in Latin America even as it gives shape to the desire to tell a good story. We will tell and write our own short stories to better understand the genre. Prerequisite: Spanish 204 or proficiency. 6 credits cr., AL,RAD, Not offered in 2004-2005.
SPAN 254. Love and Death in Spanish Drama This course offers an overview of classical and contemporary Spanish drama through a concentration on two of its most prominent themes. After a brief theoretical exploration of the concepts of eros and thanatos in thinkers such as Plato and Freud, we consider how perceptions of love and death are shaped by specifically historical concerns and how Spanish playwrights have exploited these themes for their dramatic potential. Authors to be studied include Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Tirso de Molina, Calderón de la Barca, García de la Huerta, Zorrilla, and García Lorca. Prerequisites: Spanish 205. 6 credits cr., AL, Winter—M. Kidd
SPAN 255. Women Dramatists in Latin America: Staging Conflicts This course will examine contemporary plays written by Latin American and U.S. Latina women from a woman centered perspective. Issues will range from women and political repression to a critique of gender roles. As we read the plays, we will consider both the literary qualities of dramatic texts and the semiotics of staging and its potential for public advocacy. Dramatists that may be included are Luisa Josefina Hernández, Elena Garro, Griselda Gambaro, Sabina Berman, Maruxa Vilalta, Marcela del Río, Albalucía Angel, Aida Bortnik and U.S. Latina playwrights María Irene Fornes and Margarita Tavera Rivera. Prerequisite: Spanish 204 or proficiency. 6 credits cr., AL,RAD, Not offered in 2004-2005.
SPAN 256. Lorca, Buñuel, and Dalí: Poetry, Film, and Painting in Spain Lorca, Buñuel, and Dalí attended the same college in Madrid. It was the 1920s and the young were truly young and almost everything was possible. Soon Lorca became Dalí's secret lover and muse, inspiring many of his early paintings and launching his career in the artistic circles of Barcelona and Madrid. At the same time, Dalí collaborated with Buñel in two landmarks of experimental cinemaThe Andalusian Dog and The Golden Age, This course examines the friendship between the three artists and their place in the history to twentieth-century art, film, and literature. Prerequisite: Spanish 205 or permission of the instructor. 6 credits cr., AL, Not offered in 2004-2005.
SPAN 260. Topics in Hispanic Literature: Forces of Nature This course examines nature and its relationship to Latin American identity across the last 200 years, but with emphasis on the twentieth century. Paradise regained and lost, monster or endangered habitat, nature plays a central role in Latin American development and its literature. Its literary image has varied greatly in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, at times suggesting the lost Garden of Eden, at other times mirroring human cruelty, and recently coming center stage in the ecological novel. Among the authors studied in this course are Sarmiento, Quiroga, Gallegos, Rulfo, Seplveda, Belli, and Montero. Prerequisite: Spanish 204 or proficiency. 6 credits cr., AL,RAD, Not offered in 2004-2005.
SPAN 290. Morelia Program: Directed Reading 4 credits cr., ND, Winter—D. Pearsall
SPAN 310. Melancholy in Literature and Art One of the saddest by products of Modernity is, no doubt, the denial of sadness. Starting with the classical theories of melancholy and moving across the seventeenth century to Freud and the Modernist movements in the early twentieth century, this course will examine the role of melancholy in Spanish literature and art within a broader European context. Authors examined include Aristotle, Ficino, Dürer, Velázquez, Calderón, Milton, Goya, Freud, Chirico, and Dalí. Discussion topics include genius and melancholy, the role of inanimate objects in art, ruins and uninhabited places, and Modernity and the concept of "boredom." Prerequisite: One term of art history and Span 205 or above. This course will be relevant to Art History. 6 credits cr., AL, Winter—H. Huergo
SPAN 322. The Novel in Spain This course will focus on Spanish novel in the post-Franco era. Through concepts such as tragedy, myth, mourning, the city, intimacy, haunting, infancy, hope, we are going to develop a poetic of the Spanish contemporary novel. We will use these novels as an introduction to the mains problematic in the contemporary Spain: immigration (xenophobia), terrorism, civil war trauma, the relationship between the Christian tradition and the Jewish and Muslim heritage, the battle of the languages (Castellano vs Catalán, Vasco y Gallego) gender troubles in the contemporary Spanish society. Prerequisite Spanish 204 or equivalent. 6 credits cr., AL, Not offered in 2004-2005.
SPAN 324. Lyric and Modernity: The Prose Poem in Spain A Romantic invention, the prose poem emerged in the nineteenth century and since then it has served as an arena where poets test the limits of poetry and its relationship with society. In this course we will look at some of the main practioners of the prose poem in SpainJuan Ramón Jiménez, Machado, Cernuda, Valente, and othersin order to determine what makes this genre distinctively "modern." Prerequisite: Spanish 205 or above. 6 credits cr., AL, Spring—J. Brioso
SPAN 326. Writers in Exile Two countries and four writers will be the protagonists of our course: Guillermo Cabrera Infante, a refugee from the Cuban revolution living in London while trying to recover his lost city Habana through his writing; Reinaldo Arenas, another Cuban refugee dying of AIDS in New York while writing about his illness and exile; Spanish novelist Jorge Semprún, a deportee and survivor of a concentration camp established in Paris and writing in French; and Juan Goytisolo, a Spanish expatriated in Morocco, writing in Spanish and Arabic about his own country and the Muslim world. Prerequisite: Spanish 205 or equivalent. 6 credits cr., AL, Not offered in 2004-2005.
SPAN 328. Topics in Hispanic Literature: The Avant-Garde in Spain, 1910-1930 The term Avant-Garde (frontline) refers to the various artistic movements that shook Latin America and Europe during the first half of the twentieth century: Picasso's Busim, Surrealism, Functionalism, Abstraction, etc. This course examines the impact of the Avant-Garde in Spain by looking at the works of some of the movement's most prominent figures, including Buñuel (cinema), Dalí (painting), Lorca (poetry and drama), Moreno Villa (criticism and poetry), and Ortega y Gasset's aesthetic theory. Topics of discussion include early twentieth century literature, art, music and cinema. Movie screenings every week. Prerequisite: Spanish 240 or the equivalent. 6 credits cr., AL, Not offered in 2004-2005.
SPAN 330. The Invention of the Modern Novel: Cervantes' Don Quijote Among other things, Don Quijote is a "remake," an adaptation of several literary models popular at the time the picaresque novel, the chivalry novel, the sentimental novel, the Byzantine novel, the Italian novella, etc. This course will examine the ways in which Cervantes transformed these models to create what is considered by many the first "modern" novel in European history. Prerequisite: Spanish 205 or above. 6 credits cr., AL, Not offered in 2004-2005.
SPAN 334. Texts and Nations: Nineteenth Century Latin America This course will focus on the literature written in the period following Latin American independence in the nineteenth century all the way to the Mexican revolution. The central organizing concept will be that of the nation as an imagined community that is created discursively and is intimately bound to the functioning of the state, the creation of a national identity, and ultimately the invention of the people (with all its gender and ethnic inflections). We will examine closely different kinds of primary texts: fiction, essays, poetry, newspaper articles, manifestoes. All primary and theoretical texts will be in Spanish. Selections from: Sarmiento, Bello, Echeverría, Hernández, Martí, Darío, del Casal, Rodó, Gómez de Avellaneda, Matto de Turner, Machado de Assis. Prerequisite: Spanish 204 or proficiency. 6 credits cr., AL,RAD, Not offered in 2004-2005.
SPAN 336. Genealogies of the Modern: Turn of the Century Latin America In this course we will examine what the literary tradition has come to name "modernismo." We will cover the period between 1870 and 1910. We will study it in the context of the experience of modernity, that is the configuration of emergent cities, urban culture, mass media, technological innovation and the modernization of the figure of the writer. Particular attention will be given to the understanding of the modern in a non-European context and its relation to what we know today as modern Latin American identity. Selections from: Martí, Darío, Rodó, González Prada, Gutiérrez Nájera, Lugones, Agustini. Prerequisite: Spanish 204 or proficiency. 6 credits cr., AL,RAD, Winter—S. López
SPAN 338. Images of the Indian in Spanish American Literature After a historical survey of the relationship between national projects of social organization and the indigenous populations of the area, this course focuses on Indigenismo as a set of social discourses attempting to represent "the Indian", and on key works by Icaza (Ecuador), Asturias (Guatemala), Arguedas (Peru), and Castellanos (Mexico). While considering the specific literary quality of this writing, we will contrast its representation of "the Indian" with indigenous self-representation in oral-popular tradition and through intellectuals like Domitila Barrios, Rigoberta Menchú, Bernabe Condori and others, to better understand the relationship between official culture and its Other. Prerequisite: Spanish 204 or proficiency. 6 credits cr., AL, Winter
SPAN 340. Latin American Prose: Dictatorships and Revolution in the Latin American Narrative This course briefly examines the origins and development of the Latin American narrative and then focuses on the literary reaction to dictatorship and revolution. It stresses a critical reading and discussion of major works by Azuela, Castellanos, and Fuentes (Mexico), Asturias (Guatemala), and Allende (Chile). The emphasis is on Mexico and the literary interpretation of the Revolution of 1910 and the society that grew out of it. Prerequisite: a 240 level literature course is strongly recommended. 6 credits cr., AL,RAD, Not offered in 2004-2005.
SPAN 344. Women Writers in Latin America: Challenging Gender and Genre The course will study texts (written by women) that deal critically with issues of gender, challenging implicit and explicit patriarchal values. Emphasis will also be placed on how these women have experimented with narrative and poetic genres to express their personal concerns and to deconstruct orthodox structures. Authors usually included: Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Storni, Agustini, Castellanos, Poniatowska, Molloy, Valenzuela, Ferré, Garro, Peri Rossi, Allende. Prerequisite: Spanish 240 or a 300 level literature course is recommended. 6 credits cr., AL,RAD, Not offered in 2004-2005.
SPAN 348. New Trends in Latin American Poetry, 1950-2000 Spanish American poets have brought to the text the interplay of writing with orality, popular culture, and other social discourses and semiotic systems. This course will examine poetic experimentation during the last decades of the twentieth century in relation to a cultural universe dominated by visual and aural images (both traditional and modern) as well as by the new technologies of information. Authors read include Nicanor Parra, Enrique Lihn, Ernesto Cardenal, Rodolfo Hinostroza, Antonio Cisneros, José Emilio Pacheco, and Raúl Zurita. Prerequisite: Spanish 205 or equivalent. 6 credits cr., AL,RAD, Fall—J. Cerna Bazán
SPAN 349. Madrid Program: Madrid: Theory and Practice of Urban Life More than a study of the image of Madrid in Spanish literature, this course examines the actual experience of living in a cosmopolitan city through a variety of disciplines, including urban studies, philosophy, architecture, sociology, and Spanish poetry and fiction. Topics discussed in class include: How to look at a city and how to talk about it? What is a neighborhood? What are the social functions of the street? Is there un "eroticism" of the city? To what extent does post modernity produce anonymous, atemporal non-places? What has been the impact of the modern city on twentieth century literature? 6 credits cr., AL, Fall—H. Huergo
SPAN 350. Recent Trends in Latin American Narrative: Pop Culture and Testimony Postboom narratives question the nature of telling stories, from Rigoberta Menchú's testimony to Tomás Eloy Martínez's novelistic history of Eva Perón's embalmed body. Galeano, Alegría, Puig, Vega, and Esquivel combine fiction and reportage or recontextualize the romance and detective novels. Emerging with these narratives is the ecological novel which refashions the standard Latin American theme of "civilización y barbarie." What makes these texts literature? How has the craft of author changed, and what constitutes a postmodern narrative discourse? Prerequisite: Spanish 240 or a 300 level literature course is recommended. 6 credits cr., AL,RAD, Fall—B. Boling
SPAN 360. Topics in Hispanic Literature: Difference, Identity and Representation in Latin America Identity diversification is an ongoing process in Latin America, resulting from conflictive interactions between heterogeneous social groups, among which power is unevenly distributed. This course examines the ways in which literature incorporates specific manifestations of ethnic, racial, sexual, and gender difference against the background of territorial-geological, cultural, political and economic fragmentation of this region in the period 1950-2000. To examine specific forms of literary experimentation, narrative and poetry will be considered in relation to oral tradition, popular music, film, video and other cultural artifacts produced in such a heterogeneous context. Focus on Peruvian and Colombian literatures and cultures. Prerequisite: Spanish 204 or proficiency. 6 credits cr., AL,RAD, Not offered in 2004-2005.
SPAN 400. Integrative Exercise 6 credits cr., S/NC, ND, Fall,Winter,Spring—Staff