Latin American Literature 2
A.Y. 2020/2021
Learning objectives
The course offers an articulated knowledge of the general problems of Hispanic American literature, with particular attention to intercultural aspects and the dynamics of identity construction. The main aim is to provide the student with an overview, diachronic and synchronic, of the main literary currents that have addressed the problem of otherness, also through the methodologies and tools of literary analysis (genres, themes, structures and styles).
Expected learning outcomes
Knowledge and understanding: the student acquires a good ability to read texts, critical and literary, in language, knows how to interpret and contextualize them, deepens the theories and methodologies of the discipline. Applied skills: the student is able to use the main tools of text analysis as well as to recognize genres, themes, structures and styles, identifies with certainty the main historical and cultural implications of the reference texts. He is also able to revise independently the disciplinary contents acquired.
Lesson period: Second semester
Assessment methods: Esame
Assessment result: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi
Single course
This course cannot be attended as a single course. Please check our list of single courses to find the ones available for enrolment.
Course syllabus and organization
Single session
Responsible
Lesson period
Second semester
During the emergency teaching phase, the programme is maintained with the following modifications, for a good online use of the course originally designed for in-presence teaching:
The lessons will alternate synchronous teaching by Teams platform and asynchronous teaching (audioppt and videos in Ariel and Classroom - students are requested to monitor the Classroom platform on a daily basis. The code will be made available at the beginning of the course in Ariel-). Synchronous lessons will be complemented by group activities in the form of text analysis exercises. For students who will not be able to participate in the group activities, alternative activities will be arranged, in order to develop the same skills acquired in the exercises proposed during the video lessons -Classroom platform-. The lesson calendar and all the details of the activities will be published by the beginning of the lessons.
The lessons will alternate synchronous teaching by Teams platform and asynchronous teaching (audioppt and videos in Ariel and Classroom - students are requested to monitor the Classroom platform on a daily basis. The code will be made available at the beginning of the course in Ariel-). Synchronous lessons will be complemented by group activities in the form of text analysis exercises. For students who will not be able to participate in the group activities, alternative activities will be arranged, in order to develop the same skills acquired in the exercises proposed during the video lessons -Classroom platform-. The lesson calendar and all the details of the activities will be published by the beginning of the lessons.
Course syllabus
The course is entitled "Representing the Other in Hispanic American Literature. Re-readings of the 19th century" and consists of the following units:
A: The Construction of Otherness in the Context of American Independence
B: The African presence in the Americas: forms and representations
C: The Indian problem: reflections on identity
Starting from a reflection on the Hispano-American scenarios of the nineteenth century, a complex and controversial century in which political independence poses the question of cultural and literary independence, the course aims to reflect on the social and cultural reality of Hispano-America which, since the Conquest, has been characterized as a great multi-ethnic and multicultural laboratory. Starting from these premises, the main objective of the course is to redeem, in a constant dialogue between context and text, forms, models and paradigms capable of defining the great twentieth-century period of Hispanic American literature. The constant exercise of text analysis will lead to three objectives: 1) to analyse the forms of construction and representation of identity and otherness in Hispanic American contexts; 2) to trace the formal and stylistic characteristics (symbolic spatiality, temporal juxtaposition, testimoniality) typical of American expression; 2) to recognise the mechanisms of resistance and articulation of a dissident discourse conveyed by literature.
In the unit A the question of 1810, between independence and emancipation, will be addressed. At the centre will be the identity problem (ethnicity, culture, religion, gender) in the will to build an imaginary openness from European models, capable of embodying the multiple socio-cultural status of the Continent.
The unit B will analyse the presence of the African group in Hispano-American contexts, the forms and models of representation of the slave in the work of Alejo Carpentier and Miguel Barnet.
Unit C will deal with the imagery of the Indian in Peru, through the twentieth-century reinterpretations of Arguedas and Castellanos.
The course programme is valid until September 2022, inclusive.
A: The Construction of Otherness in the Context of American Independence
B: The African presence in the Americas: forms and representations
C: The Indian problem: reflections on identity
Starting from a reflection on the Hispano-American scenarios of the nineteenth century, a complex and controversial century in which political independence poses the question of cultural and literary independence, the course aims to reflect on the social and cultural reality of Hispano-America which, since the Conquest, has been characterized as a great multi-ethnic and multicultural laboratory. Starting from these premises, the main objective of the course is to redeem, in a constant dialogue between context and text, forms, models and paradigms capable of defining the great twentieth-century period of Hispanic American literature. The constant exercise of text analysis will lead to three objectives: 1) to analyse the forms of construction and representation of identity and otherness in Hispanic American contexts; 2) to trace the formal and stylistic characteristics (symbolic spatiality, temporal juxtaposition, testimoniality) typical of American expression; 2) to recognise the mechanisms of resistance and articulation of a dissident discourse conveyed by literature.
In the unit A the question of 1810, between independence and emancipation, will be addressed. At the centre will be the identity problem (ethnicity, culture, religion, gender) in the will to build an imaginary openness from European models, capable of embodying the multiple socio-cultural status of the Continent.
The unit B will analyse the presence of the African group in Hispano-American contexts, the forms and models of representation of the slave in the work of Alejo Carpentier and Miguel Barnet.
Unit C will deal with the imagery of the Indian in Peru, through the twentieth-century reinterpretations of Arguedas and Castellanos.
The course programme is valid until September 2022, inclusive.
Prerequisites for admission
The course is held in Italian. The examination materials and bibliography, on the other hand, will be entirely in Spanish and presuppose skills in literary history, use of terminology and critical analysis acquired in previous courses (Hispanic American Literature 1).
Teaching methods
The course adopts the following teaching methods: frontal lectures; readings and commentary on the works in the program; seminar lessons.
Teaching Resources
Perassi, Emilia; Scarabelli, Laura, Itinerari di cultura ispanoamericana. Ritorno alle origini e ritorno delle origini, Torino, UTET 2011 (92-108; 141-160; 185-226; 273-304; 343-375)
Scarabelli, Laura, Identità di zucchero. Immaginari nazionali e processi di fondazione nella narrativa cubana, vol. 1, Milano, Arcipelago, 2009
Scarabelli, Laura, Immagine, mito e storia. El reino de este mundo di Alejo Carpentier, Roma, Bulzoni, 2011.
Alejo Carpentier, Historia de lunas y Los fugitivos, Madrid, Random House, 1990.
Alejo Carpentier, El reino de este mundo, Madrid, Cátedra, 2013, versione online: https://www.textosenlinea.com.ar/textos/El%20reino%20de%20este%20mundo.pdf
Miguel Barnet, Biografía de un cimarrón, La Habana, Letras cubanas, 2012
José María Arguedas, Cuentos escogidos, Caracas, Ayacucho, 1986
Rosario Castellanos, Balún Canán, México, Fondo de Cultura, 1957.
Cornejo Polar, Antonio, Los universos narrativos de José María Arguedas, Buenos Aires, Editorial Losada, 1973 (selection of chapters).
Lienhard, Martin, La voz y su huella. Escritura y conflicto étinico y social en América Latina (1492 - 1988), México, Ediciones Casa Juan Pablos. 2003 (selection of chapters)
Ortega, Nelsol, Relatos mágicos en cuestión, Berlin-Madrid, Veuvert, Iberoamericana, 2006 (selection of chapters(
The program for non-attending is identical to the one for attending students
PLEASE NOTE:
The program is not intended to be complete and will be integrated with a series of essays, readings and insights that will be indicated at the beginning of the course and during the lessons. We therefore recommend a careful and constant monitoring of the Ariel platform (Hispanic American Literature 2), both by attending and non-attending students. All the supplementary texts uploaded in the course page are to be considered an integral part of the examination program.
Scarabelli, Laura, Identità di zucchero. Immaginari nazionali e processi di fondazione nella narrativa cubana, vol. 1, Milano, Arcipelago, 2009
Scarabelli, Laura, Immagine, mito e storia. El reino de este mundo di Alejo Carpentier, Roma, Bulzoni, 2011.
Alejo Carpentier, Historia de lunas y Los fugitivos, Madrid, Random House, 1990.
Alejo Carpentier, El reino de este mundo, Madrid, Cátedra, 2013, versione online: https://www.textosenlinea.com.ar/textos/El%20reino%20de%20este%20mundo.pdf
Miguel Barnet, Biografía de un cimarrón, La Habana, Letras cubanas, 2012
José María Arguedas, Cuentos escogidos, Caracas, Ayacucho, 1986
Rosario Castellanos, Balún Canán, México, Fondo de Cultura, 1957.
Cornejo Polar, Antonio, Los universos narrativos de José María Arguedas, Buenos Aires, Editorial Losada, 1973 (selection of chapters).
Lienhard, Martin, La voz y su huella. Escritura y conflicto étinico y social en América Latina (1492 - 1988), México, Ediciones Casa Juan Pablos. 2003 (selection of chapters)
Ortega, Nelsol, Relatos mágicos en cuestión, Berlin-Madrid, Veuvert, Iberoamericana, 2006 (selection of chapters(
The program for non-attending is identical to the one for attending students
PLEASE NOTE:
The program is not intended to be complete and will be integrated with a series of essays, readings and insights that will be indicated at the beginning of the course and during the lessons. We therefore recommend a careful and constant monitoring of the Ariel platform (Hispanic American Literature 2), both by attending and non-attending students. All the supplementary texts uploaded in the course page are to be considered an integral part of the examination program.
Assessment methods and Criteria
The exam consists of an individual interview, which includes questions asked by the teacher, interactions between teacher and student and the analysis and commentary of one or more passages taken from the works in the program. The interview lasts about 20 minutes and can be held in Italian or Spanish, at the student's choice. The interview aims to verify the knowledge of the texts studied, the contextualization ability of authors and works, the ability to analyze the text, the ability in the exposition, the precision in the use of specific terminology, the ability of critical and personal reflection on the proposed themes. Finally, it will take into account, if done in Spanish, language skills. The final grade is expressed in thirtieth, and the student has the right to reject it (in which case it will be recorded as "withdrawn"). For the students attending the course, there will be in partial tests, at the end of the different modules, and presentations of written works.
Other information:
International students or Erasmus incoming students are invited to contact the teacher of the course in advance.
Examination procedures for students with disabilities and/or DSA must be agreed with the teacher, in agreement with the competent office.
Other information:
International students or Erasmus incoming students are invited to contact the teacher of the course in advance.
Examination procedures for students with disabilities and/or DSA must be agreed with the teacher, in agreement with the competent office.
Unita' didattica A
L-LIN/06 - LATIN AMERICAN LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Unita' didattica B
L-LIN/06 - LATIN AMERICAN LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Unita' didattica C
L-LIN/06 - LATIN AMERICAN LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Professor(s)