The focus of SPAN 312 is the critical analysis of selected texts and periods representative of Spain's literary production from the 18th century to the present, with special attention paid to broader literary and cultural contexts. In this section of SPAN 312, we will study texts within the thematic frame of ‘strange worlds’: fictional works that portray seemingly otherworldly, fantastic, and speculative experiences, ranging from strange encounters with robots and ghosts, tales of madness, to horrific depictions of warfare and strange post-apocalyptic stories of survival. We will study how these texts evince concerns with modernity, technology, and scientific progress and the ways these affect and shape human identity, social relations, and our everyday experience of time and space. Through these otherworldly depictions, we will consider strangeness and world creation alike as experimental modes of thinking about the human world of the past, present, and future: both to critically assess its status quo—on such issues as modernization, immigration, and climate change—and to envision how it could be different. At the same time, this course will familiarize you with strategies to read, discuss, and write critically about literature in Spanish. Though the class’s primary material is literary texts, we will also watch some films. Taught in Spanish.
MWF 1:00-1:50 PM; 1028 Lincoln Hall
Section C: CRN 66502
Instructor: Anna Torres-Cacoullos