Submitted by Sara J. Brenneis on Friday, 1/22/2010, at 2:40 PM

Spanish 89: Postwar Spain and the Novel

AMHERST COLLEGE

Spring 2010

M, W, F 11-11:50, Chapin 210

Profa. Sara J. Brenneis

sbrenneis@amherst.edu

office: Barrett 106

office hours: Mondays and Wednesdays 1-2 and by appointment

 I.              Course Description

The Spanish Civil War ended in 1939 with the beginning of what would become Francisco Franco’s 36-year dictatorship over Spain.  The majority of authors in postwar Spain were subject to censorship and overt oppression while they attempted to understand their own history and translate it onto the page.  The postwar Spanish novel, while often examining a common period in Spanish history, is a varied genre.  In this course, we will study the historical and cultural background of the period, reading novels that reflect the diversity of postwar Spanish literature and its authors as well as historical accounts and theoretical materials in order to gain a more complete understanding of the era and its reflection in literature.  The course will consist of short lectures, class discussions, student presentations (individually and in groups), group activities, short writing assignments, five written literary analyses of 2-3 pages, and a more extensive final paper.  Students should come prepared to discuss the day’s reading in class.  This will be a collaborative course that will necessitate the participation of the entire class, allowing a wide variety of subjects relating to the main topic of the course to be discussed. 

II.            Objectives and Grading

Students will read and interpret narrative texts written and set during Spain’s last century, considering them in conjunction with historical events, cultural currents and theoretical trends.  During classroom activities and discussions, students will analyze texts in terms of subject matter, narrative style, historical interpretation, social background of the authors and secondary critical sources.  The participation grade is based on the students’ involvement and engagement in classroom discussion, a cornerstone of this course, and includes announced and unannounced short written assignments.  The oral grade refers to student-led class discussions and informative oral presentations.  Students will write a critical essay after reading each novel, analyzing thematic elements in the novel, and applying historical and critical knowledge to fictional representations. Students may rewrite any of the first three essays, but the rewrite must be submitted within one week of receiving my comments and the grade.  Rewrites should correct the grammar and revise structure and content.  The final paper grade will be calculated based on the average of the original paper grade and the rewrite grade.  For the final paper, students will write an essay evaluating one or two narrative texts by utilizing a secondary critical source they have identified as pertinent.  This final paper will demonstrate the critical reading and evaluation skills that the student has developed during the semester and will necessitate limited outside research.

Novel essays (5) – 50%

Final paper – 20%

Classroom participation – 20%

Oral presentations/discussion facilitation – 10%

 III.         Student Responsibilities

Students are expected to adhere to Amherst College’s Honor Code at all times.  Students with disabilities or specific limitations that will affect their participation in the course should speak with the professor privately as soon as possible to make arrangements.  Regular attendance is required and absences will adversely affect the participation grade.  If students must miss a class, regardless of the reason, they should communicate with a classmate about what they missed and responsibly inform themselves of the homework for the next class. 

In order to respect the professor and the students, cell phones and other technological distractions are not permitted during class.  This course is conducted entirely in Spanish: respectful dialogue en español is expected at all times!

 

IV.          Course Readings

 

1) Required Texts (Available at Amherst Books)*

  • La familia de Pascual Duarte, Camilo José Cela (1942), Ediciones Destino
  • Requiem por un campesino español, Ramón J. Sender (1950), Ediciones Destino
  • Primera memoria, Ana María Matute (1960), Ediciones Destino
  • El cuarto de atrás, Carmen Martín Gaite (1978), Ediciones Destino
  • Usos amorosos de la postguerra española Carmen Martín Gaite (1987) Anagrama
  • Soldados de Salamina, Javier Cercas (2001), Editors Tusquets

 

  • Highly recommended: a Spanish-English Dictionary (Oxford, Chicago, Larousse)

 

* Please consider resisting the urge to look for these books via online sources: not only does Amherst Books carry the precise edition that the class will be using, but by buying your books locally you are supporting a friendly campus bookstore and not a faceless conglomerate. 

 

2) Historiography and Theory (E-Reserves and in Course Packet available in Barrett 201)

  • Narrating the Past: Fiction and Historiography in Postwar Spain, David K. Herzberger: “Introduction – Narrative Intimacies: Fiction and History” and “Ch. 3: History and the Novel of Memory”
  • España, de la dictadura a la democracía, Raymond Carr and Juan Pablo Fusi: Chronology, Glossary of Terms, “Introducción,” “I: Franco y el legado de la guerra civil,” and “VI: Cultura 1939-1977”
  • The New Spaniards, John Hooper: “Chapter 11: Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown”
  • Historia de la literatura española, Santos Sanz Villanueva: “El marco histórico-literario: 1. 1939, Fecha de la ruptura”
  • Poetics of Postmodernism: Historiographic Metafiction: History, Theory, Fiction, Linda Hutcheon: “Historiographic Metafiction: ‘The Pastime of Past Time’”
  • La pluralidad narrativa: escritores españoles contemporáneos (1984-2004): “Una historia fantasmal,” Robert Spires

 

3) Film (Amherst Streaming Video and DVD on Reserve)

  • “Soldados de Salamina,” dir. David Truebas (2003)

 

4) Additional Texts on Reserve

  • Secondary sources from Course Packet
  • English translations of Cela, Sender, Matute, Martín Gaite and Cercas (to be used sparingly, if at all)

 

 V.             Campus Resources

  • The Writing Center: An invaluable resource for help on your papers, before, during and after you write them, even when they’re in Spanish.  Located at 101 Charles Pratt Hall.
  • Spanish Writing Center: Staffed by student writing fellows, the Spanish Writing Center can help with your writing in Spanish.  You will be notified via email of its Spring semester hours.
  • Grammar and Reference: The Spanish Department Library, in Barrett 202, has a collection of Spanish dictionaries and grammar manuals.  I recommend John Butt’s A New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish to help you solve lingering grammatical and language issues.  In addition, the Diccionario de la Real Academia Española and the Oxford Spanish Dictionaries are both online and free through the Amherst network.  Bookmark them and use them often.

 

VI.            Course Outline

Historia y historiografía en la España del S. XX

ENERO

Semana 1

lunes 25:            Introducción al curso

miércoles 27:            “Introducción” de España, de la dictadura a la democracía, Raymond Carr y Juan Pablo Fusi. Course Packet

Trasfondo a la Guerra Civil Española (1936-1939) 

viernes 29:            “I: Franco y el legado de la guerra civil,” de España, de la dictadura a la democracía. Course Packet

“El marco histórico-literario: 1. 1939, Fecha de la ruptura,” Historia de la literatura española, Santos Sanz Villanueva. Course Packet

Trasfondo al periodo de la postguerra (1939-1975)

 

 FEBRERO

 

La novela de posguerra temprana 1940-1975

 

Semana 2

l 1:            Requiem por un campesino español, Ramón J. Sender (páginas 7 - 33)

m 3:            Requiem, Sender  (páginas 34 - 69)

v 5:            Requiem, Sender  (páginas 70 - final)

 

Semana 3

l 8:            Redacción 1

“Introduction – Narrative Intimacies: Fiction and History,” de Narrating the Past: Fiction and Historiography in Postwar Spain, David K. Herzberger.  Course Packet

m 10:            “VI: Cultura 1939-1977,” de España, de la dictadura a la democracía, Raymond Carr y Juan Pablo Fusi. Course Packet

v 12:            La familia de Pascual Duarte, Camilo José Cela (prólogos [dedicatorio, nota del transcriptor, carta anunciando..., cláusula del testamento...], capítulos 1 - 3)

 

Semana 4

l 15:            Pascual Duarte, Cela (capítulos 4 - 10)

m 17:            Pascual Duarte, Cela (capítulos 11 - 16)

v 19:            Pascual Duarte, Cela (capítulos 17 - 19, epílogos [otra nota..., carta final])

 

Semana 5

l 22:            Redacción 2

Introducción a Usos amorosos de la postguerra española, Carmen Martín Gaite.

m 24:            “III. El legado de José Antonio,” Usos amorosos, Martín Gaite.

v 26:            “VII. Nubes de color de rosa” Usos amorosos, Martín Gaite.

 

MARZO

 

Semana 6

l 1:            Primera memoria, Ana María Matute (“El declive,” capítulos 1, 2 y 3)

m 3:            Primera memoria, Matute (“El declive,” capítulos 4, 5 y 6)

v 5:            Primera memoria, Matute (“La escuela del sol,” capítulos 1 y 2)

 

Semana 7

l 8:            Primera memoria, Matute (“La escuela del sol,” capítulos 3, 4 y 5)

m 10:             Primera memoria, Matute (“Las hogueras”)

v 12:            Primera memoria, Matute (“El gallo blanco”)

 

VACACIONES DE PRIMAVERA

 

La novela después de Franco: la Transición (1975-1982)

 

Semana 9

l 22:            Redacción 3

“Chapter 11: Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown,” de The New Spaniards, John Hooper. Course Packet

m 24:            El cuarto de atrás, Carmen Martín Gaite (capítulo 1)

v 26:            El cuarto de atrás, Martín Gaite (capítulo 2)

 

 

Semana 10

l 29:            El cuarto de atrás, Martín Gaite (capítulo 3)

m 31:            El cuarto de atrás, Martín Gaite (capítulo 4)

 

ABRIL

 

v 2:            El cuarto de atrás, Martín Gaite (capítulo 5)

 

Semana 11

l 5:            El cuarto de atrás, Martín Gaite (capítulos 6 y 7)

m 7:            Selección de “Ch. 3: History and the Novel of Memory,” de Narrating the Past: Fiction and Historiography in Postwar Spain, David K. Herzberger. Course Packet

v 9:            “Historiographic Metafiction: ‘The Pastime of Past Time,’” Linda Hutcheon. Course Packet

 

La novela actual (S. XXI) 

 

Semana 12

l 12:            Redacción 4

Introducción a la España de S. XXI, técnicas narrativas postmodernas

m 14:            Soldados de Salamina, Javier Cercas (1ª parte: 17 - 40)

v 16:            Soldados de Salamina, Cercas (1ª parte: 41 - 74)

 

Semana 13

l 19:            Soldados de Salamina, Cercas (2ª parte: 77 - 105)

m 21:             Soldados de Salamina, Cercas (2ª parte: 105 - 140)

v 23:            Soldados de Salamina, Cercas (3ª parte: 143-172)

 

Semana 14

l 26:            Soldados de Salamina, Cercas (3ª parte: 172 – final)

m 28:            “Una historia fantasmal,” Robert Spires. Course Packet

Propuestas del Ensayo final (texto primario y secundario)

v 30:             Ver en Amherst Streaming Video: “Soldados de Salamina”

discusión de la película en clase

 

MAYO

 

Semana 15

l 3:            Redacción 5

Presentaciones/Talleres de los ensayos finales

m 5:            Presentaciones/Talleres de los ensayos finales

v 7:            Presentaciones/Talleres de los ensayos finales

 

miércoles, el 12 de mayo: Ensayos finales