Stanislav Zimic

COURSE DESCRIPTION: 

Cervantes called Lope “monstruo de la naturaleza”, with which he was referring, among other things, to the prodigious abundance, variety and artistic quality of the latter’s literary production.  All these aspects of Lope’s art will be considered in the proposed course; first, by a close examination of all the fundamental tenets of the “Comedia nueva”, a dramatic mode that rejects some forms of the past Spanish theater, while synthesizing others into a highly original dramatic expression.  Representative plays will be analyzed both from the aesthetic and ideological point of view: theme, structure, style… (dramatic and theatrical elements), exemplarity.  Lope’s theater as a Baroque expression.  In the second part of the course, some of Lope’s best lyric poetry and prose writing will be closely studied; the Novelas a Marcia Leonarda and Dorotea, in several aspects the most extraordinary Spanish novel of the 17th century.  Lope’s charming humor will be analyzed in his Gatomaquia.  A method of literary analysis will be offered in class.

REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING: 

This course is suited for graduate students of any level.

Final grade will be based on active participation and a short presentation (report) in class, and a final, longer paper (ca. 15 pages) on a chosen or assigned topic.

TEXTBOOKS AND/OR CLASS MATERIALS:

Fuenteovejuna

El caballero de Olmedo

El castigo sin venganza

La dama boba

La buena guarda

El villano en su rincón

Los embustes de Celauro

Gatomaquia

Novelas a Marcia Leonarda

Dorotea.

Poesía lírica (selections).

Some texts will be available in Xeroxed form.

Spanish Civilization provides an overview of the geography, history, art, architecture, music, and literature of Spain. The course is structured chronologically.  We begin with the pre-history of the Iberian Peninsula (the Cave of Altamira) and end with present-day Spain.  Special topics we will study over the course of the semester includeconvivencia, the watershed events that took place in 1492 (the conquest of Granada and the completion of the Reconquest, the expulsion of the Jews, and the first voyage of Columbus), the Spanish Missions in Texas, and the Spanish Civil War.  

W 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM

DESCRIPTION:

The purpose of this course is to study the fundamental modalities of Spanish Renaissance and Baroque poetry: triumph of italianismo, petrarquismo, neoplatonismo and humanistic classicism in the first half of the 16th century; the nationalization of italianismo, the beginnings of cultismo as well as the religious mystic poetry of the subsequent epoch; culteranismo, conceptismo and naturalismo of the 17th century.  Important aesthetic problems, like art and nature, imitation and invention will be, of course, closely examined.

We shall read the poetry of the most significant representatives of each period and modality: Boscán, Garcilaso and some of their disciples: Gutierre de Cetina, Francisco de Aldana; Fernando de Herrera, Fray Luis de León, S. Juan de la Cruz and S. Teresa de Jesús, Góngora, Quevedo, Lope, R. Caro, F. de Rioja, Jáuregui, J. de Valdivieso.

The first few weeks of classes will be spent in consideration of the exceptional nature of the Spanish Renaissance and of the historical and spiritual physiognomy of the Golden Age in general.  Comparisons with contemporary literary and ideological currents elsewhere in Europe will be made with the aim of highlighting the peculiarity of the Spanish style.

The course is panoramic in nature, suited for both MA and PhD students.

Grading system:

Active participation in class.  Special assignment for individual students.  Final exam or paper.

Texts:

E.L. Rivers, Poesía lírica del Siglo de Oro

Supplemented with copies of other selections.

Extensive bibliography of critical studies, traditional and new, will be given in class.