ARGENTINA ACROSS TWO CENTURIES: SELF-REFLECTION, DEPICTION, INTERPRETATION.
The purpose of the course is to illustrate the following and to pose the following questions for classroom inquiry and discussion:
What is a colony, and how does a land pass from its status as colony to another of nation? Within Spanish America, Argentina is taken as an example of the phenomenon, as students review its history and culture over the past two centuries. Since not all of what we call History is as factual as it may seem at first glance, Argentina is viewed from different angles: how its people have chosen to see their own land; how Argentina has been represented in different cultural forms, such as literature, music, film, and the plastic art forms it produced; and how Argentina has been comprehended not only from within its boundaries, but also from the outsider’s vantage point. These considerations prompt recollections of Argentina’s fascinating legendary heroes and representative human types. They oblige us to understand why its capital became one of the cultural jewels of the Americas, while other areas of the land remained rooted in rusticity. Finally, what was the vision of Argentina in the 20th century, what was the particular nature of its government at mid-century, and what have been the defining characteristics of the country in the past half century?
Course plan:
The plan is numbered according to individual meeting days (for example, #6 signifies the 6th class presentation). Homework specified for that day is to be completed prior to the class, in the event that students are asked to contribute with questions or answers.
All homework readings, plus the content of the professor’s lectures, plus the substance of extra-classroom activities (films, plays, intra-city excursions to particular sites that support the course material, etc.) are presumed to be the basis for the tests, which will take place during class time.
There will be brief excursions to sites within the general area of Buenos Aires, and there will be some showings of movies that bolster the learning experience. The 4 movies noted in the course plan should be shown on or around the classes indicated, but the one or two theater events may be interspersed at any point. (The professor will announce the time and place of the showings, well in advance of the events.) Similarly, the brief excursions will occur as feasible and are not necessarily adjoined to a particular class (except in the instance of the Ocampo visit, which will accompany the reading for that day). In place of theater, the professor may opt for performances of dance or music that serve to define Argentine culture.
All students are required to buy the following text for the course, and it is recommended that it be carried to Argentina from the U.S.
Shumway, Nicolas. THE INVENTION OF ARGENTINA.
1. Geography and demography of Spanish America: up to 1555.
The first “conquistadores”.
2. Writers about “las colonias” (with focus on Luis de Miranda in the 1540s).
3. Changes in the geography and demography of Spanish America: 1555 to 1810.
The meaning of the term “viceroy” and its relation to the style of government of Felipe II.
4. Renaissance chronicle and epic, from Felipe II to 1700.
5. read Shumway, I.
Repercussions in the Americas, brought on by the arrival of the Bourbons to the Spanish throne: views concerning the Americas in an “Age of Reason”; the Jesuits; Enlightenment’s positive side.
6. Cultural manifestations"literary and visual"cultivated in the Americas just prior to Independence. What was the literacy rate? How was news diffused? Etc., etc.
7. read Shumway, II.
1810, 1812, and the significance of the Cortes de Cádiz.
8. Brief review period.
Exam of 35-40 min.
9. read Esteban Echeverría. “El matadero” (1838) (up to sentence: “Esto se notaba al principio de la matanza.”)
Romanticism: definition and relation to the politics of the time.
[[showing of movie “Camila”]]
10. read second half of “El matadero”.
Further discussion of Romanticism, with focus on Echeverría.
11. read Shumway, III.
Federalism.
12. read Shumway, IV.
Argentina’s first quarter century with new political status.
13. read Shumway, V.
What was the “Generation of 1837”?
14. read Shumway, VI.
Who were Hilario Ascasubi (1807-75), Juan María Gutiérrez (1809-78), Vicente Fidel López (1815-1903), and José Mármol (1817-71)? Explanation of the term “historical novel”, in regard to López. Importance of Mármol’s AMALIA (1851-55).
15. Brief review period.
Exam of 35-40 min.
16. read FACUNDO, part I, ch. 1 [we will be reading only part I of this book]
Who were Juan Bautista Alberdi (1810-84) and Domingo F. Sarmiento (1811-88)?
17. read FACUNDO, part I, ch. 2
The importance of Sarmiento’s FACUNDO (1845)
18. read FACUNDO, part I, ch. 3-4.
Actuality and/or anachronism in the content of FACUNDO?
19. read Shumway, VIII.
Argentina at mid-century: geographically, demographically, politically
20. read MARTÍN FIERRO, section 1-3 [we will be reading only the 1872 portion of this work]
Who was José Hernández (1834-1886)? The need for a popular poetic voice and semblance of epic.
21. read MARTÍN FIERRO, section 4-8.
Comparisons with Sarmiento’s “gaucho”.
22. read MARTÍN FIERRO, section 9 to end 1872 portion.
Narration of what occurs in the 1879 sequel, “La vuelta… .”
23. Brief review period.
Exam of 35-40 min.
24. The shift from classical to innovative voice: Guido y Spano (1827-1918).
The definition of the movement called “Modernismo”: what it was and was not.
25. read Lugones poems: “A los gauchos,” “Emoción aldeana”
The complexity of Leopoldo Lugones (1874-1938).
26. read Storni poems: “Una voz,” “La que comprende,” “Peso ancestral,” “Cuadrados y ángulos,” “Veinte siglos”.
From historical tradition to intimacy in the female voice: the historical novel and legends of Juana Manuala Gorriti (1819-1892); Alfonsina Storni (1892-1938).
27. read Martínez Estrada poems: “El mate”, “San José de la esquina”
The importance of Ezequiel Martínez Estrada (1895-?) and his RADIOGRAFÍA DE LA PAMPA (1933).
[[showing of movie “El hombre mirando a sureste”]]
28. read 1/3 novel, LA INVENCI"N DE MOREL
Importance of Adolfo Bioy Casares as novelist, and begin discussion of this novel.
29. read 1/3 novel, LA INVENCI"N DE MOREL
Continue discussion of this novel.
Brief biography of Juan Domingo Perón and Eva Duarte Perón.
30. finish reading LA INVENCI"N DE MOREL
Politics of the Peróns and the relationship between Juan Perón and European politics, circa 1940.
31. Brief review period.
Exam of 35-40 min.
[[showing of movie “El diario de la motocicleta”]]
32. Discussion of movie and brief history of Che Guevara.
33. read, by Silvina Ocampo, a selected short story from the collection “La furia y otros cuentos” (1959).
Excursion to Silvina Ocampo’s home.
34. read Julio Cortázar short story, “La noche, boca arriba”.
Importance of Cortázar as representative of a literary movement.
35. read Jorge Luis Borges short story, “El sur”.
Borges as a national and international writer and luminary.
36. read Borges poems: “Las cosas”; “Laberinto”. Also, Anderson Imbert short story, “El fantasma”.
Enrique Anderson Imbert as writer and critic.
37. read Cosa short story, “La nonna”.
Roberto Cosa as example of modern Argentine writing.
[[effort to see live theater performance of modern play (perhaps Gambaro?)]]
38. Explanation of El Teatro (y Cine y Música) por la Identidad.
39. The Islas Malvinas event: historical explanation.
[[showing of movie “La historia oficial”]]
40. Discussion of the movie.
Explanation of “la Guerra Sucia”, the Junta, etc.
41. Brief history of vanguard art (painting) during the second half of the 20th century.
42. read Shumway, IX
Recapitulation in class, and remaining questions answered.
43. read Shumway, X
Recapitulation in class, and remaining questions answered.
[[showing of movie “Nueve reinas”]]
44. Discussion of movie.
Importance of M. Puig in recent literature.
45. Exam of full class period.
Grading:
There will be 5 tests of 35-40 minutes each. Students will be tested on material presented since the former test, but are responsible for knowing all the material presented from the entire semester. Test will always test for thing both particular and general. Students are expected to know facts that are significant (that is, which serve to define the historical and cultural-artistic framework that the professor is aiming to put across), and they are expected also to demonstrate on the tests that they can put details together in order to formulate broader concepts. (They have to demonstrate that they see both the forest and the trees.) Each test will be graded on the basis of 100%, where 90 and above is A, 80-89 is B, 70-79 is C, 60-69 is D, and below that is a failure. Each test will count 1/5 of the total grade. There are no written papers, and there will not be a means to earn extra credit beyond the tests.
Daily attendance will be reported for every student, as well as students’ attendance at extra-classroom events (excursions, movie-showings, etc.). Two absences from class are permitted without excuse, but any above that must be substantiated by a written medical excuse. Every absence more than the two allowed will mean a full percent off of the final averaged grade, and every absence from an extra-classroom event will mean two percent off of the final averaged grade.
The professor reserves the right to adjust grades downward, if it is manifest on the basis of classroom discussion that the student is not fulfilling the duties of daily reading assignments.
Bibliography:
All students are required to buy the following text for the course, and it is recommended that it be carried to Argentina from the U.S.
Shumway, Nicolas. THE INVENTION OF ARGENTINA.
All students will read, additionally, the individual poems, short stories, and one novel that are mentioned in the course plan. These can be secured in one of the following ways:
purchasing a volume that contains the work photocopying individually the works mentioned purchasing a photocopied compilation of the works, if ISA advises that this is possible.
The following works are mentioned here in no particular order, and dozens of others might have been mentioned in support of the material that students will study and hear about. Portions of the following could be very useful for purposes of clarification of material, but they are not required readings:
José Luis Romero. A HISTORY OF ARGENTINE POLITICAL THOUGHT (available in original Spanish and in English trans.)
José M. Mariluz Urquijo. EL VIRREINATO DEL RIO DE LA PLATA EN LA EPOCA DEL MARQUES DE AVILES (1799-1801).
Enrique Anderson Imbert. HISTORIA DE LA LITERATURA HISPANOAMERICANA, vols. I-II.
Frank Graziano. DIVINE VIOLENCE: SPECTACLE, PSYCHOSEXUALITY, & RADICAL CHRISTIANITY IN THE ARGENTINE “DIRTY WAR”.
Paula Alonso. BETWEEN REVOLUTION AND THE BALLOT BOX.
Jason Wilson. BUENOS AIRES: A CULTURAL AND LITERARY COMPANION.
J. Fred Rippy. LATIN AMERICA: A MODERN HISTORY.
Noga Tarnopolsky. “The Family that Disappeared.” In THE NEW YORKER (Nov. 15, 1999). [concerning “the dirty war”]
Alma Guillermoprieto. “The Harsh Angel.” In THE NEW YORKER (Oct. ?). [concerning Che Guevara]
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