The contents of the subject are organized according to a cross-cutting topic that will determine the approach to Latin American literature: e.g., the history of literary movements, the ideological construction of space, the relationship between literature and politics, the doppelgänger, the building of Latin American identity, gender issues, realism and the different approaches to reality, the relationship between Latin America and other regions of the world, the fantastic in Latin American literature, etc.
Since the topic varies every semester, the final program will be published before the start of classes. You can contact by email to know the readings for the next semester.
Here are some examples:
Topic 1: "The hallucinated mirror of history"
This topic will allow us to think about the different ways in which history enters literature: as an object of representation, as a background in the literary debates of the time, as an ideological position. We will study the different strategies used by writers to address those events and phenomena that marked the politics of the continent throughout the 20th century.
Units:
- 1917: Mexican Revolution. Texts by Juan Rulfo.
- 1945: Peronism. Texts by Jorge Luis Borges and Julio Cortázar.
- 1959: Cuban Revolution. Texts by Eduardo Heras León and Leonardo Padura.
- 1968: The Tlatelolco Massacre. Texts by Elena Poniatowska and Roberto Bolaño.
- 1973: The dictatorships of the Southern Cone. Texts by Roberto Bolaño and Néstor Perlongher.
- 1989: Neoliberal democracies. Texts by Diamela Eltit.
Topic 2: "Gender issues"
This topic is thought of as a deliberate attempt to revise a traditionally masculine literary canon. We will focus on a group of female authors whose contribution has undoubtedly meant a turning point in the literary production of Latin America throughout the century, introducing questions that would usually end up being postponed or neutralized on their time, but that in the light of the present they acquire more and more relevance.
Units:
- The wild tongues. Texts by Juana de Ibarbourou.
- The uncanny intimacy. Texts by Silvina Ocampo.
- Gender and race. Texts by Rosario Castellanos.
- The untamed voice. Texts by Elena Poniatowska.
- The body in sight. Texts by Diamela Eltit.
- Lost in translation. Texts by Sylvia Molloy.
Topic 3: "Problems of literature"
This topic is considered as a journey through some of the main theoretical questions of literary language and the way in which these are articulated in the literary production of Latin America: the literature as device, the reflection on realism, the figure of the author, the role of reading, the question of genre, and the always tense relationship between literature and politics.
Units:
- Literature as device. Texts by Horacio Quiroga.
- Realism. Texts of Rómulo Gallegos.
- The author. Texts by Pablo Neruda.
- The reading. Texts by Jorge Luis Borges.
- Genre and gender. Texts by Gloria Anzaldúa.
- Politics. Texts by Mariana Eva Pérez.
The texts of each unit will be complemented by secondary readings proposed by the professor.
* Contents, authors and the selection of texts can be modified. All mandatory readings will be included in a dossier published by the professor and available in the university copy center.