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Prior to enrolling in courses at this language level, students must have completed or tested out of a minimum of four semesters (or six quarters) of college-level Spanish at their home university in the U.S.

OBJECTIVES
The main objective of this Course is to offer students a broad overview of Sixteenth-Century Spanish Literature. With this aim in mind, they will also be provided with a theoretical grounding so as to enable them to acquire the skills they need to analyze and comprehend adequately the texts belonging to the period.

METHODOLOGY
In this sense, the classroom set-up will be interactively theoretical and practical: the exploration of each subject block will be backed up during class sessions by debates based on the selected readings.

SYLLABUS
1) The Golden Age as a Concept: Historical and Literary Significance. Renaissance Spain. Humanism. Movements involving Spiritual and Political Regeneration: Erasmianism. The Literary Genres.
2) The Renaissance Poetic Revival: Boscán and Garcilaso de la Vega.
3) Sixteenth-Century Prose: the Novel of Chivalry and the Sentimental Novel. The Novel Forms of the Renaissance: the Byzantine Novel, the Moorish Novel, the Pastoral Novel, the Picaresque Novel. A Study of Lazarillo de Tormes.
4) Spiritual Literature: Asceticism and Mysticism. San Juan de la Cruz, Santa Teresa, and Fray Luis de León. A Study of the Spiritual Canticle (Cántico Espiritual).
5) The Beginnings of the Modern Novel: Cervantes and Mateo Alemán.
6) The Genre of Drama: Toward the New Play. An Introduction to the Drama of Lope de Vega.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Course lecturer will provide students with a booklet containing the texts to be analyzed in class sessions. Moreover, given the specific attention that will be paid to certain authors, the acquisition of the following books is recommended:
Anonymous, Lazarillo de Tormes, ed. Francisco Rico, Madrid, Cátedra.
Garcilaso de la Vega, Obras Completas, ed. Elías L. Rivers, Madrid, Castalia.

With regard to the bibliography of a general nature, together with those sources to be used as reference, students will be provided with full details of them during the first class session.

COMPLEMENTARY ACTIVITIES
- The screening of a movie adaptation based on the text of Lazarillo de Tormes.
- A guided tour of the Sevilla of Cervantes.
- Attendance at a theatrical performance of a play by Lope de Vega (scheduling permitting) and / or a class performance of one of Lope de Vega's plays.

ASSESSMENT
Two written exams will be held in which students will be expected to comfirm the assimilation during the Course of key concepts. The first of these will be held mid-way through the Course and the second at its close.
Optionally, students will also have the opportunity of carrying out an assignment enabling them to improve their final grade by between 0.50 and 1.50 points. Requirements in this respect regarding subject, format, and length can be fixed through consultation with the Course lecturer.
In any case, regular class attendance and active participation in sessions will also contribute positively to students' final grades.