(.5 unit credit)
This course is designed to give advanced students the opportunity to refine and increase their abilities to write, read, and speak Spanish. The course will have a strong emphasis on oral proficiency. Cultural and literary readings, writing software, and selected Spanish-language films are among the materials on which class discussion and assignments may be centered. A grammar review, focused mainly on typical areas of difficulty, will be included.
This is a foundational semester survey of Spanish American Literature from its pre-Hispanic manifestations to the present. The course covers major historical periods and literary movements, including the narrative of discovery and conquest, Renaissance and Baroque poetry, and the literatures of Romanticism, Modernism, the avant-gardes, the Boom, and postmodernity. Fundamental concepts of literary theory and techniques of literary analysis are discussed. Historical readings, critical essays, and films provide the background for textual analysis.