Note: A placement exam will be required when you arrive on site.

High Advanced

This course is designed for students who have completed or tested out of a minimum of five semesters (or seven quarters) of college-level Spanish. However, students must take a placement exam to determine the course level into which they will be able to enroll.

OBJECTIVES
The aim of this Course is the study of the interaction of History and Literature, its point of departure being the historical event that has had a widespread effect upon literary output in Spain, i.e. the Civil War of 1936.

METHODOLOGY
A theoretical-practical approach will be adopted in class sessions, while the exploration of each syllabus-unit will be reinforced by discussions of the set texts.

SYLLABUS
1. Historical Overview: from the Republic to the Era of Dictatorship
2. Events leading up to the Civil War. The Continuing Literary Presence of Previous Generations: those of ’98, of 1914, and of ’27.
3. Literature during the Period of the War.
4. The End of the War and Exile. Spanish Literature Abroad: Ramón J. Sender, Max Aub, Arturo Barea, Francisco Ayala.
5. The Post-War Novel:
- The Post-War Novel (1939-1950): La Familia de Pascual Duarte by Camilo José Cela
- Social Realism in the Novel (1951-1962): from La Colmena by Camilo José Cela to Tiempo de silencio by Luis Martín-Santos.
- The Spanish Novel after 1962.
6. Post-War Drama:
- The 1940s: Commercial Theater. Bourgeois Drama and Theatrical Comedy.
- The Theater of Protest and Indictment: The Generation of Realism and the Drama of Buero Vallejo.
- “The New Spanish Drama”: the Search for New Forms of Expression in Drama.
7. Post-War Poetry:
- The Key Figure of Miguel Hernández.
- The So-Called ‘Generation of ‘36’: Poetry Rooted and Uprooted.
- Social Poetry: Blas de Otero.
- Toward a New Poetics: the Sixties.
- The ‘Latest Trends’ and the Poetry of Recent Times.

BASIC BIBLIOGRAPHY
Students will be provided with a booklet made up of a selection of texts to be analyzed in class. Nevertheless, given the specific attention to be paid to certain authors, the purchase of the following set books is recommended:

- Francisco Ayala. La cabeza del cordero. Madrid: Cátedra (a range of other editions available).
- Antonio Buero Vallejo. Historia de una escalera. Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (a range of other editions available).
- Camilo José Cela. La Familia de Pascual Duarte. Madrid: Destino (a range of other editions available).
- Miguel Delibes. Los santos inocentes. Barcelona: Planeta (a range of other editions available).

Students will be provided with general and specific bibliography at the commencement of the Course and at different points during its development.

COMPLEMENTARY ACTIVITIES
• The viewing of a series of documents and documentaries dealing with the Spanish Civil War: press material and magazines, interviews with intellectuals, etc.
• The viewing of the movie version of the text entitled Los santos inocentes.
• Performance of a post-war play.

ASSESSMENT
Students will be expected to confirm their assimilation of syllabus content in two examinations. The first will be set mid-way through the Course and the other at its close.

Optionally, the possibility will exist of carrying out an assignment that will allow for the improving of each final-grade score within the range of between 1 or 1.5 full points. Previous consultatuion with lecturers concerning the format, length and nature of the assignment is suggested. Final grading will also take into account regular attendance and active participation in class sessions.