The "New" Latin American Narrative (Taught in English) (231-0-1)
Instructors
Lucille Kerr
847/467-6698
3-131 Crowe
Meeting Info
Kresge Centennial Hall 2-410: Tues, Thurs 11:00AM - 12:20PM
Overview of class
So, what's "new" about the New Latin American Narrative? The course approaches this question by considering several key trends in Latin American literature in the second half of the twentieth century. Focusing on novels, short fiction, and testimonial writing & film, we will study representative works from the so-called pre-Boom, Boom, and post-Boom decades (1940s-50s, 1960s-70s, 1980s). Although the new narrative is often identified with Boom novels (such as One Hundred Years of Solitude) and with the Boom era overall—when Latin American literature "exploded" onto the world stage--we will take a broader view to consider the diverse types of narrative representing "new" currents in the region. Reading and discussion will focus on formal aspects of narrative and on cultural and historical contexts that shaped the production and reception of new narrative works by well-known figures. Primary texts: Borges's and Cortázar's "fantastic" fictions and essays on narrative poetics; Fuentes's revolutionary Boom novel about 20th-century Mexico (The Death of Artemio Cruz); Ferré's irreverent feminist stories about Puerto Rican society and culture; Valenzuela's ironic dramatic fictions about political repression in Argentina; García Márquez's documentary-testimonial tale about an exiled filmmaker's covert return home during the Pinochet era (Clandestine in Chile: The Adventures of Miguel Littin). Secondary materials will provide literary, historical, and cultural contexts for primary works. Readings and discussion in English/
Registration Requirements
Prerequisites: None.
Reading and discussion in English.
No P/NP
Spanish minor: Span 231 may be counted as one of the five required 200-level courses
Spanish major: Span 231 may be counted as one of the three required elective courses
CompLit major: Span 231 may be counted as one of the required courses (see CLS advisor)
Latin American & Caribbean Studies minor: (see LACS advisor)
Journalism: Span 231 may be counted as one of the courses required for an outside concentration (see
Medill advisor)
Distro Area VI (Literature & Fine Arts): Span 231 may be counted as an Area VI required course
Overlay requirement: Span 231 might also satisfy the Overlay requirement (see advisor)
Learning Objectives
Course learning outcomes
This course is in the Foundational Discipline-Literature and Arts category. As such, throughout this course, students will:
- Observe the forms, genres, and styles of literary and artistic expression in Latin America through practices of close reading and analysis.
- Gain awareness of the social, political, cultural, and historical factors influencing artistic expression, the relations between the artist and the public, and the potential of creative art to challenge or to affirm social, cultural and literary norms through discussions of twentieth-century Latin American writers' challenge to conventional literary forms, themes, and styles.
- Appreciate how literature and the arts reveal the differences and diversity, as well as the continuity and unity, of human cultures. Key topics in this category will include how the Latin American "new" narrative was produced and received globally as well as locally; how it interrogated literary canons and cultural hierarchies, offering "new" ways of reading; and how a diverse group of writers reshaped the image of the Latin American writer, as well as that of Latin American literature, around the world.
- Produce acts of persuasive interpretation, analysis, and commentary on literature and art, both spoken and written through class participation and writing assignments.
- By emulating the subtleties of literature and art, students develop their Spanish writing skills and sharpen their powers of interpretation, critique, and aesthetic perception through the summary, close reading, contextualization, and analysis of course materials in short writing assignments and a final paper.
This course also satisfies the Global Overlay requirement. During the quarter, students will engage with scholarship on some of the processes that have shaped literary and artistic production in contemporary Latin American countries; and generate the knowledge and develop the skills necessary to grapple with key issues, including heritage, circulation, ethnicity, diversity, cultural reception, identity, resistance, and human rights.
Class Materials (Required)
TBD.
Class Materials (Suggested)
Carlos Fuentes, The Death of Artemio Cruz / Farrar, Straus & Giroux / ISBN:0-374-52283-9
Gabriel García Márquez, Clandestine in Chile: The Adventures of Miguel Littin / H. Holt / ISBN: 0805003223 ; 9780805003222
Other primary materials and all secondary materials will be available in Canvas.
Class Notes
Spanish minor: Span 231 may be counted as one of the five required 200-level courses
Spanish major: Span 231 may be counted as one of the three required elective courses
CompLit major: Span 231 may be counted as one of the required courses (see CLS advisor)
Latin American & Caribbean Studies minor: (see LACS advisor)
Journalism: Span 231 may be counted as one of the courses required for an outside concentration (see
Medill advisor)
Distro Area VI (Literature & Fine Arts): Span 231 may be counted as an Area VI required course
Overlay requirement: Span 231 might also satisfy the Overlay requirement (see advisor)
Class Attributes
Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area
Global Perspectives on Power, Justice, and Equity
Attendance at 1st class mandatory