SENIOR SOPHISTER COURSE 2011-2012 Spanish … TSM Course... · SENIOR SOPHISTER COURSE 2011-2012...

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- 1 -- SENIOR SOPHISTER COURSE 2011-2012 You should continue your study of Spanish language, attending two classes a week in written Spanish and one in spoken Spanish, in preparation for your two three-hour language examinations and your viva voce. (15 ECTs) Learning Outcomes: At the end of the academic year students should be able to prepare accurate translations of Spanish language texts into English and from English into Spanish; analyze linguistically and stylistically a variety of texts written in the Spanish language; assess and evaluate the quality of translations from Spanish into English; write Spanish essays on a wide range of discursive and creative topics. You are required to study two of the Special Subjects below, on which two two-hour written examinations will be set. (See later pages for details.) All Special Subjects carry a value of 10 ECTS. Because of the need to avoid numbers in Special Subjects that are either too large or too small, students are asked to choose their subjects in order of preferences. Whilst every effort will be made to accommodate your choice of courses and dissertation, we reserve the right to place you, having regard to our own staffing situation. The courses are the following: a) Spain of The Three Cultures Dr García b) Cervantes: Content and Context Dr Brewer c) The Myths of Time: Spain 1930-1940 Dr Bayó Belenguer d) Literature, Cinema, and Metamorphosis Dr Bayó Belenguer e) Competing Representations of America in Enlightenment Spain Dr O’Hagan f) The Writer as Exile Dr Cosgrove g) Languages of Spain and Spanish America Dr García NB: Changed staffing arrangements along with leave of absence may alter the content and terms of delivery of courses. However, everything will be done to ensure that courses as outlined will be delivered. DISSERTATION: You are required to submit, by week 11 of Hilary Term, two copies, prepared in accordance with the Departmental style sheets, of a Dissertation of between 10,000 and 15,000 words. (See later pages.) Students are strongly advised not to exceed the upper limit of 15,000 words. Moderatorship examination part II, papers and marks 1 Spanish Language paper I 100 2 Spanish Language paper II 80 4 A paper on medieval Spanish literature 90 5 One 2 hour paper on each of the Special Subjects studied in the SS year 100 6 Dissertation 100 7 Spoken Spanish examination 30 8 Essays carried forward from Junior Sophister 150 650

Transcript of SENIOR SOPHISTER COURSE 2011-2012 Spanish … TSM Course... · SENIOR SOPHISTER COURSE 2011-2012...

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SENIOR SOPHISTER COURSE 2011-2012 You should continue your study of Spanish language, attending two classes a week in written Spanish and one in spoken Spanish, in preparation for your two three-hour language examinations and your viva voce. (15 ECTs)

Learning Outcomes: At the end of the academic year students should be able to prepare accurate translations of Spanish language texts into English and from English into Spanish; analyze linguistically and stylistically a variety of texts written in the Spanish language; assess and evaluate the quality of translations from Spanish into English; write Spanish essays on a wide range of discursive and creative topics.

You are required to study two of the Special Subjects below, on which two two-hour written examinations will be set. (See later pages for details.) All Special Subjects carry a value of 10 ECTS. Because of the need to avoid numbers in Special Subjects that are either too large or too small, students are asked to choose their subjects in order of preferences. Whilst every effort will be made to accommodate your choice of courses and dissertation, we reserve the right to place you, having regard to our own staffing situation. The courses are the following:

a) Spain of The Three Cultures Dr García b) Cervantes: Content and Context Dr Brewer c) The Myths of Time: Spain 1930-1940 Dr Bayó Belenguer d) Literature, Cinema, and Metamorphosis Dr Bayó Belenguer e) Competing Representations of America in Enlightenment Spain Dr O’Hagan f) The Writer as Exile Dr Cosgrove g) Languages of Spain and Spanish America Dr García

NB: Changed staffing arrangements along with leave of absence may alter the content and terms of delivery of courses. However, everything will be done to ensure that courses as outlined will be delivered.

DISSERTATION: You are required to submit, by week 11 of Hilary Term, two copies, prepared in accordance with the Departmental style sheets, of a Dissertation of between 10,000 and 15,000 words. (See later pages.) Students are strongly advised not to exceed the upper limit of 15,000 words. Moderatorship examination part II, papers and marks 1 Spanish Language paper I 100 2 Spanish Language paper II 80 4 A paper on medieval Spanish literature 90 5 One 2 hour paper on each of the Special Subjects studied in the SS year 100 6 Dissertation 100 7 Spoken Spanish examination 30 8 Essays carried forward from Junior Sophister 150 650

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Medieval Spanish Literature (10 ECTS) Along two semesters, the course will analyse the three core texts of Medieval Spanish literature, each set within a comprehensive contextual background. Attention will be dedicated to the reception of the texts in contemporary criticism. Regular presentations will be required.

Learning Outcomes: At the end of the academic year students should be able to discuss in detail the three canonical works of Spanish Medieval literature, Cantar de mío Cid, Libro de Buen Amor by Juan Ruiz and La Celestina, by Fernando de Rojas. Undertake a close analysis of the non-adapted original texts and recognize their literary genre, etrical structure and literary figures. Identify the linguistic particularities of the works, setting them within a historical linguistic context. Discuss the historical and cultural background of the works. Draw parallels and compare the texts with other texts from related literary traditions. Prescribed editions Poema de Mio Cid (ed. Ian Michael, Clásicos Castalia) Juan Ruiz, Libro de Buen Amor (ed. G.B. Gybbon-Monypenny, Clásicos Castalia) Fernando de Rojas, La Celestina (ed. Dorothy S. Severin, Ed. Cátedra) SENIOR SOPHISTER SPECIAL SUBJECTS 2010-2011

a) Spain of the Three Cultures It is the aim of this course to provide an insight into the complex historical, cultural and social circumstances that shaped the cultural phenomenon known as the Spain of the Three Cultures. The course will cover, among others, the following themes: the Visigothic kingdom and its significance in the shaping of the national conscience of the Iberian Christian kingdoms; Muslims in Iberia: the rise, glory and decline of Al-Andalus; the contribution of Jews to the cultural and economical development of both Muslim and Christian Iberia; consolidation of the Christian kingdoms and the Reconquista. Based on contemporary texts, the course will also explore the intellectual and material contribution of Christians, Muslims and Jews to the cultural climate of Medieval Spain, drawing particular attention to the interaction of these three ethnic and religious groups. The lectures will be complemented with visual documentation as well as sound recordings. Learning Outcomes: At the end of the academic year students should be able to describe the socio-historical, cultural and material realities of Medieval Iberia, in particular in the fields of science, literature and art. Identify and analyse the cultural differences and similarities existing between the communities of the three monotheistic religions in Medieval Iberia. Evaluate their contribution to the development of Spanish society and its literary and material cultures. Discuss general questions relating the co-existence of Christians, Jews and Muslims in Medieval Iberia. Establish comparisons between Iberia and other geo-political areas.

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Recommended bibliography Collins, Roger, Early Medieval Spain. New York: St. Martin´s Press, 1995 (2nd ed.) Reilly, Bernard F., The Medieval Spains. Cambridge University Press, 1993. Constable, Olivia R. (ed.), Medieval Iberia. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1997. Menocal, María Rosa, The Ornament of the World. New York: Back Bay Books, 2002. Watt, W. M., Cachia, P., A History of Islamic Spain. New Bruswick: Aldine Transaction, 2007. Harvey, L. P., Islamic Spain, 1250 to 1500. University of Chicago Press, 1990. Baer, Yitzhak, A History of the Jews in Christian Spain. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 1992. Díaz-Mas, Paloma, Sephardim: The Jews from Spain. Chicago University Press, 1992. b) CERVANTES: CONTENT AND CONTEXT In this course we will read Don Quixote first and foremost as one of the greatest stories ever written: an exciting, surprising, comic, moving, emotional rollercoaster that, over 400 years after its original publication, remains startlingly, vibrantly alive. We will also situate Don Quixote in its proper literary and historical context so that we learn to appreciate it both as an innovative product of its time and place as well as a timeless work of universal relevance. Learning Outcomes: At the end of the academic year students should be able to critically analyze Don Quixote; to thoroughly understand its historical and literary context; to successfully present a point of view. Prescribed Text: Don Quixote (Part I & Part II) c) THE MYTHS OF TIME: SPAIN 1930-1945 The years 1930-1945 were among the most significant and controversial in the history of Spain. As dissension escalated into full-scale civil war the conflict became a prelude to the clash of ideologies that would tear Europe apart. The era will be examined from a variety of sources, including personal testimonies, memoirs, film documentaries, and propaganda, as well as through the fiction and cinema of the time and later, from both a national and international perspective. The canonical history of the period will be compared with these sources in the light of current debates about historical and collective memory. Learning Outcomes: At the end of the academic year students should be able to read critically and analyze strategically a range of text types (fiction, autobiography, memoirs, historical films, documentaries, and essays), their conventions and cultural contexts; to identify the discourse of political propaganda and be intimately familiarized with the socio-cultural and political background of this historical era; to make an effective oral presentation and successfully debate a point of view, and to carry out independent research in a variety of topics related to the period.

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Prescribed texts:

Campoamor, Clara. [1937]. La revolución española vista por una republicana. Barcelona: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 2002.

Stanley-Low, Mary. [1937]. Red Notebook / Cuaderno rojo de Barcelona. Barcelona: AliKornio Ediciones, 2001.

Woolsey, Gamel. [1939]. Death’s Other Kingdom. Any edition.

Orwell, George. [1938]. Homage to Catalonia. Any edition.

Gironella, José María. [1953]. Los cipreses creen en Dios. Any edition.

Hemingway, Ernest. [1940]. For Whom the Bell Tolls. Any edition.

Barea, Arturo. [1941]. The Clash / La llama. (Vol. 3 in The forge of a rebel/La forja de un rebelde. Any edition.

Chacón, Dulce. [2002]. La voz dormida. Madrid: Alfaguara Alberto Méndez. Los girasoles ciegos (2004)

Note: During the summer, students should read: Gerald Brenan. The Spanish Labyrinth, Manuel Azaña. Causas de la Guerra de España, and Helen Graham. The Spanish Civil War. It is also strongly recommended that the course texts should be bought and the reading started before the term begins. d) LITERATURE, CINEMA, AND METAMORPHOSIS The interrelationship between Spanish fiction and cinema has been particularly fruitful for some sixty years and the principal objective of the course is to study a selection of literary genres and the film versions, adaptations, re-creations or variations of these texts in the light of the literary and film debate of how images ‘translate’ text. A major focus will be how the narrative is constructed in both media, and how the 'convergencias' and 'divergencias', ‘cruces’ and ‘diálogos’ between them have continued to influence and modify one another. Learning Outcomes: At the end of the academic year students should be able to read critically and analyze narrative structures of a range of text types and films; to identify the major strategies in adapting literary texts for the screen; to apply theories relevant to the theme of adaption; to make an effective oral presentation and successfully debate a point of view, and be intimately familiarized with the authors and directors studied. Prescribed texts:

Emily Brontë. Wuthering Heights (1847); Dir: Luis Buñuel. Abismos de pasión (1954) Miguel de Unamuno. La tía Tula (1921); Dir: Miguel Picazo. La tía Tula (1964) Federico García Lorca. Bodas de sangre (1932); Dir: Carlos Saura. Bodas de sangre (1981) Miguel Delibes. Los santos inocentes (1982); Dir: Mario Camus. Los santos

inocentes (1984) Ruth Rendell. Live Flesh (1986); Dir: Pedro Almodóvar. Carne Trémula (1997)

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Jesús Ferrero. Las trece Rosas (2003); Carlos Fonseca. Trece rosas rojas (2004); Dir: Emilio Martínez Lázaro. Las trece rosas (2007)

Alberto Méndez. Los girasoles ciegos (2004); Dir: José Luis Cuerda. Los girasoles ciegos (2008)

Note: It is strongly recommended that the course texts are bought and the reading started before the term begins – you should also buy as many of the films as possible. e) Competing Representations of America in Enlightenment Spain America has been central to the literature and thought of the European Enlightenment. During the eighteenth century, prominent Enlightenment thinkers debated the legitimacy of the New World conquest and even speculated on whether it would have been better if the New World had never been discovered at all. It is therefore a curious fact that the role of America in Spanish Enlightenment literature should have received such scant critical attention, especially when it is remembered that it was during the eighteenth century that the Spanish American empire – the largest colonial power in the world at this time – began to falter. It is the aim of this course to redress the critical neglect of America at such a crucial moment in the history of Spanish imperialism by re-reading a range of eighteenth-century texts (both fictional and non-fictional) against the politico-colonial context of Enlightenment Europe. Through a detailed and chronological analysis of the set texts, it will be revealed that the need to defend Spain’s New World record in Europe prompted a rhetorical crisis in Spain as writers scrambled for the most effective way to defend Spain. The effectiveness of their rhetoric will be examined, as will the extent to which Spain’s preoccupation with the defence of her American conquest led to the neglect, in Spain, of the popular Enlightenment myth of America. Learning Outcomes: At the end of the academic year students should be able to describe in detail this crucial period in Spain’s imperial history and the relationship between Spanish Enlightenment literature and the socio-political and cultural contexts of 18th-century Spain and Europe; to discuss and evaluate the Spanish response to the 18th-century crisis in Euro-imperialism and critically evaluate a range of Enlightenment texts across a variety of genres; to carry out independent research in a variety of Spanish Enlightenment literature topics.

Prescribed Texts:

José Cadalso, Epitafios para los monumentos de los principales héroes españoles (London, 1979)*

— Cartas marruecas, ed. by Joaquín Arce (Madrid: Cátedra, 1995) — Defensa de la nación española contra la carta persiana LXXVIII de Montesquieu,

ed. by Guy Mercadier (Toulouse: Université de Toulouse, 1970)* — Escritos autobiográficos y epistolario, ed. by Nigel Glendinning and Nicole

Harrison (London: Tamesis, 1979)* Forner y Segarra, Juan Pablo, Exequias de la lengua castellana: Sátira menipea, ed. by

José Jurado (Madrid: CSIC, 2000) Fernández de Moratín, Nicolás, ‘Las naves de Cortés destruidas’, in J. Dowling, ‘El texto

primitivo de Las naves de Cortés destruidas de Nicolás Fernández de Moratín’, Boletín de la Real Academia Española, 57 (1977), 431-83 (pp. 451-483)*

Montengón, Pedro, Odas (Madrid: Sancha, 1794)*

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— Eusebio, ed. by Fernando García Lara (Madrid: Cátedra, 1998) Ponz, Antonio, Viaje fuera de España, ed. by Casto María del Rivero, 2 vols (Madrid: Aguilar, 1998)* Quintana, Manuel José, Poesías completas, ed. by Albert Dérozier (Madrid: Clásicos Castalia, 1969)* Vaca de Guzmán, José María, ‘Las naves de Cortés destruidas’, in Poemas épicos, ed. by

Cayetano Rosell, BAE, XXIX (Madrid: Hernando, 1925)* NOTE*: Texts marked with an asterisk will be provided by your tutor during Week 1. f) The Writer as Exile Exile will be understood here, not only in the usual sense of physical displacement (though Cortázar, Nabokov, Beckett, and more recently, Saramago, celebrated and lived out such displacement), but, more importantly, in the sense of cultural and linguistic displacement, or what the critic George Steiner has described as the 'linguistic unhousedness' of the contemporary writer. The course will examine the representation of exilic angst and experiences of deracination in authors such as Joyce, Beckett and Camus, Vallejo and Saramago. But, in line with Steiner’s broader definition of ‘exile’, it will also attend to practices of writing that may be said to be associated with an exilic consciousness. Such practices are: cultivation of artifice in the literary form itself, ludic procedures and ironical strategies, all to be found in Borges and Cortázar. The notion of exile then will be amply understood within Steiner’s postulation that ‘the liberating function of art lies in its singular capacity to “dream against the world”, to “structure worlds that are otherwise”’. Learning Outcomes: At the end of the academic year students should be able to identify and discuss a variety of models of exilic writing; to explore and analyse in exilic literature in Spanish the concepts of deracination and ‘destierro’; to Distinguish between ‘existentialist’ traditions and exile proper.

Michaelmas Term 1) Jorge Luis Borges, Ficciones, El aleph and El informe de Brodie. The prose fiction of the short story writer, Jorge Luis Borges, will constitute the foundational work of this course. As an Argentine, Borges had a profoundly contradictory relationship with his own country, and even with the Spanish language. As an Anglophile (he had English ancestors, and was a fluent reader of Old English) he often gave the impression of being more ‘at home’ in northern European culture than in his native Latin America. Nevertheless, he extolled the Argentina of gaucho life and violent adventure. The nostalgic infatuation with a ‘gauchesco’ tradition of heroic sunsets and knife-fight encounters is itself an indicator of exilic consciousness, whereby real, ‘authentic’ living is elsewhere. Borges often adopts a deliberately cerebral and ‘bookish’ style which can at times mask a playful tease of the reader. 2) Julio Cortázar, Rayuela Special attention will be given to Chapter 23 (The ‘Berthe Trépat’ episode; Chapter 28 ‘the Death of Rocamadour’ episode; Chapter 41 the tablones’ episode; Chapter 56 the ‘Oliveira/Traveler’ encounter; and selected moments from the ‘capítulos prescindibles’.) We shall look at the importance of dual location

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(Paris and Buenos Aires) and at the way location determines 1) a sense of loss and 2) a desire to transcend through ‘ludic’ procedures – Chapters 41 and 56 especially. We may examine the significance of ‘rayuela’ as metaphor, and other key metaphors such as kaleidoscope’, and ‘language play’ generally. Hilary Term 3) Gutiérrez Alea’s 1968 Cuban film, Memorias del subdesarrollo. We shall examine the way the film engages with the consequences of the Cuban revolution, in particular the way the contradictory impulses of ‘staying at home’ or ‘going into exile’ to the United States are played out. We shall also examine the central role of Sergio as a character study in alienation. 4) James Joyce, Dubliners. Stories to be examined will be: ‘Eveline’, ‘ A Little Cloud’, ‘A Painful Case’, ‘An Encounter’, ‘The Dead’, ‘Counterparts’. (Special attention will be given to the way ‘epiphanies’ or moments of revelation in each story connect to feelings of disassociation, loss, nostalgia, and exile from ‘true being’ and experience of ‘inner exile’ in one’s own country – the ‘desire to be elsewhere’ theme, in other words.) 5) Samuel Beckett, First Love. (Is this a love story or a story of existential dysfunctionality? Is it a story of deracination and homelessness in which language is the only refuge?) First Love was written originally in French by this Irishman who then translated it into his ‘home’ language, English. We shall also examine his short play Not I and a film version of that play, and finally assess the re-discovery of Ireland in his late 1980 prose work, Company. 6) Albert Camus, Exile and the Kingdom. This book of stories was written on the outbreak of the Algerian war in 1954. Stories to be examined will be: ‘The Adulterous Woman’, ‘The Silent Men’, ‘ The Artist at Work’ ‘The Guest’, and ‘The Renegade’. We shall examine 1) the relationship between Algerian Europeans and Arabs, 2) the lack of communication between characters and 3) Joycean-type epiphanies; also, the exploration of solitude and the artist. We shall also examine the significance of ‘Kingdom’ in the title as one of fantasy from which one has been ‘exiled’. 7) César Vallejo, Los heraldos negros (1918) and Trilce (1922). Photocopies of selected poems will be distributed. This Peruvian poet is considered by many to be the greatest and most complex Spanish-American poet of the twentieth century. He left Peru for good in 1923 and went into exile, first to Paris, then to Madrid where he witnessed, and was devastated by, the trauma of the Spanish Civil War. He died in l938. His early poetry, thought to be his finest, explores acute feelings of loss, separation and generally, the fragmented experience of being an exile in the modern age. 8) José Saramago, Blindness. A great allegory of exile written in l995 by the Nobel prize-winning Portuguese writer who has exiled himself to the Spanish island of Lanzarote, having taken exception to the way the Portuguese authorities banned his earlier novel, The Gospel According to Jesus Christ. By all accounts, he has cut all links with Portugal.

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This ‘multi-voiced’ novel with its syntactical irregularities and long-windedness is eerily disturbing, and shares common ground with Canetti’s Auto da fe, Kafka’s The Trial and Beckett’s lost souls in late work such as The Lost Ones or Company. g) The Languages of Spain and Latin America Learning Outcomes: At the end of the academic year students should be able to conduct a close analysis of concrete linguistic material (provided in textual and audio-visual form); to analyse the historical and social circumstances that shaped the linguistic maps of Spain and Spanish America; to identify the different linguistic varieties that are spoken on the Iberian Peninsula and Spanish America, and discuss in detail their main distinctive features; to discuss the socio-linguistic situation of the studied linguistic areas; to engage in a general debate regarding socio-linguistic situations such as bilingualism, diglossia, language endangerment and revitalisation, and rights of minority languages. The course will be divided into two sections as follows: (1) The first section of the course will introduce students to the main theories of Romance Linguistics. These lectures will also provide a comparative description of the family of Romance languages, backed up with textual material and various sound recordings. (2) In its second part, the course will analyse the main dialects of Spanish on the Iberian Peninsula and the American Continent. Attention will be drawn to the history and methodology of Dialectology as a linguistic discipline. In addition to the main Spanish dialects, creoles and mixed-languages evolved on the basis of Spanish will also be considered. Recommended bibliography: Lapesa, Rafael, Historia de la lengua española. Madrid: Gredos, 1981 Cano, Rafael (ed.), Historia de la lengua española. Barcelona: Ariel, 2005 Hualde, J.I., Escobar, A.M., Introducción a la lingüística hispánica. Cambridge University Press. 2001. Pöckl, W., Rainer, F., Pöll, B., Introducción a la lingüística románica. Madrid: Gredos, 2004. Tagliavini, Carlo, Orígenes de las lenguas neolatinas. México: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1993. Chambers, J. K., Trudgill, P., Dialectology. Cambridge University Press, 1998. Manuel Alvar (dir.), Manual de dialectología hispánica (I, II). Bacelona: Ariel, 2007 Alonso Zamora Vincente, Dialectología española. Madrid: Gredos, 1960 We expect that course texts will be acquired during summer vacation and that reading will have begun well in advance of the term in question. To assist you in this, the Department has given the above list to the booksellers International Books, 18 South Frederick Street, Dublin 2 Ph: +353 (0)1 679 9375 | Fax: +353 (0)1 679 9376 | Email: [email protected] who will make every effort to have the books available. Please check with International Books in the first instance, as they often have copies of our prescribed texts in stock.

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We also wish to draw your attention to the London Modern Languages Booksellers: Grant & Cutler Ltd

55 - 57 Great Marlborough Street

London W1F 7AY

Tel: 00 44 20 7734 2012 ; 00 44 20 7734 8766

Fax: 00 44 20 7734 9272

This bookselling company is one of the best in the world in its field, and will be of great assistance in procuring the above books. They will accept credit cards and provide a speedy service.

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SENIOR SOPHISTER DISSERTATIONS 2010-2011 Experience shows that some students embark far too late on the preparation of their dissertation. We strongly recommend that students should begin to research their dissertation topic in the summer preceding their final year. We list herewith topics on which the full-time members of staff would be happy to give supervision. We encourage you to propose other topics within our areas of special competence, but, if you do so, you should seek the prior approval of the member of staff in question. Similarly, you may wish to be supervised on a topic related to Spanish by a member of another department (e.g. History or History of Art); In that case you must seek that person's agreement to advise you and to act as first examiner of your dissertation. (With special permission in advance, you may alternatively prepare a piece of submitted work of a different nature but of comparable substance.) A copy of a style sheet and suggestions towards setting about the composition of a dissertation are attached. You are asked to inform the Department by Friday 24th June 2011 of your choice of topic (as well as of your choice of Special Subjects); but you should also name, on the form provided, a second choice of dissertation, to be supervised by a different staff member. The reason for this is that there is an upper limit to the number of dissertations that a single lecturer can supervise. If, therefore, any staff member should receive a larger number of applications than the upper limit, the relevant number of dissertations will be chosen by lot. We shall inform you promptly which of your proposals has been accepted, so that you can seek advice and start preparation as soon as possible. During the academic year, your supervisor will be available for consultation at regular intervals, to be agreed. PROPOSED TOPICS FOR MODERATORSHIP DISSERTATIONS (Dr Cosgrove) The 19th Century Spanish-American Essay: Sarmiento, Rodó, Martí Arguably, the philosophical essay, more than the novel, poetry or drama, is the dominant form in 19th century Spanish-American letters. Like their North American counterparts, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, the Argentine Domingo Sarmiento (1811-1888), the Uruguayan José Enrique Rodó (1861-1917) and the Cuban José Martí (1853-1895), sought to engage with a large number of political and philosophical topics, such as: (a) the relationship between Latin America and Spain, and later, more urgently, Latin America and the new colossus to the north, the United States; (b) the 'Civilisation/Barbarism' question; the relative values of indigenous and non-indigenous models of cultural self-definition; (c) the debate between the value of disinterested action, on the one hand, and utilitarian action, on the other. The Poetry of Octavio Paz The Mexican poet Octavio Paz won the 1990 Nobel Prize for literature. His work spans a period of some sixty years, and ranges from his early surrealist inspired poetry, through his middle period where Eastern philosophical concerns (especially Mahayana Buddhist) dominate his poetry, to his late poetry that synthesizes European, Asian and indigenous Mexican themes. He is the author of one of the finest treatises on poetry written this

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century, El arco y la lira (1956). His poetic language is a language of paradox and abstraction. He writes characteristically, as follows; 'La palabra se apoya en un silencio anterior al habla - un presentimiento de lenguaje. El silencio, después de la palabra, reposa en un lenguaje o es un silencio cifrado. El poema es un tránsito entre uno y otro silencio - entre el querer decir y el callar que funde querer y decir'. Sobre héroes y tumbas (1961) This novel by the Argentine novelist Ernesto Sábato traces the decline of the traditional elite of Argentina. It dwells mainly, though with flashbacks to the nineteenth century, on the twenties and thirties, and the years before Perón came to power. Its centrepiece is a self-contained section entitled 'Informe sobre ciegos' which owes much of its obsessional drive to Sábato's mentor, Dostoyevsky, and also to Kafka. Narrativity is complex in this novel. Sábato has written: 'Hay varios motivos para que la novela de nuestra época sea más oscura y ofrezca más dificultades de lectura y de comprensión que la de antes: el "punto de vista". No existe más aquel narrador semejante a Dios, que todo lo sabía y todo lo aclaraba. Ahora la novela se escribe desde la perspectiva de cada personaje'. (Dr García) Historical Linguistics A dissertation in this area should analyse any of the many aspects of the Spanish language by tracing their evolution from its Hispanic Latin origins throughout its various evolutive periods to the modern day. The analysis can also be comparative, incorporating analogical phenomena found in other languages within the Romance linguistic family. The Languages of Spain and Latin America Dissertations written on a topic from this area could analyse any of the dialects that evolved from Hispanic Latin from a historical perspective, or possibly also in comparison to other related dialects. Research may concentrate on the historical evolution and current status of any one of the so-called “primary dialects”, i.e. those that evolved from Hispanic Latin into separate language varieties and do not, in fact, derive from Castilian: Galician, Asturian, Leonese, Riojano, Aragonese, Catalan or Mozarabic, as well as any of the “secondary” dialects of Castilian itself: Andaluz, Extremeño, Murciano, Canario and of course the Spanish of Latin America. Attention can also be dedicated to Judeo-Spanish, the language of the Sephardic Jews expelled from the Peninsula in 1492, which is still spoken in areas of the Easter Mediterranean, Israel and the Americas. Hispanic Sociolinguistics A study on a topic from this area should primarily deal with issues of language in society, i.e. the different aspects of the use of language by its speakers. Areas of interest to consider are, for example, the status of the different languages spoken within the Hispanic world, or questions of language policy and bilingualism. Interesting areas of study also include the attitudes of language authorities towards phenomena of language contact, standardization and the question of the linguistic norm.

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Society and Culture in Medieval Spain Medieval Spain, also known as the Spain of the Three Cultures, encomprises a complex fabric of inter-cultural relations between the communities of the three monotheistic religions, Christianity, Islam and Judaism. A dissertation could be written on the following subjects: • Visigothic Spain and its importance for the shaping of an Iberian Christian identity. • The importance of the Muslim contribution to the enrichment of Medieval Iberia and its resonances in the areas of language, literature, the sciences, material culture and the arts. • Jews in Medieval Iberia: their interaction with the Christian and Muslim communities; a Golden Age of Iberian Jewish culture. • Towards a homogenous Spain: questions surrounding the conquest of Granada and the expulsion of the Jews in 1492. • The Convivencia: a reality or historical construct? Medieval Spanish Literature The area of medieval Spanish literature offers a great variety of research topics that can focus either on the prose of the Spanish Middle Ages or on the many significant works of poetry. A dissertation written on a medieval topic should ideally provide a broader historical context to the subject, as well as a rather general discussion of themes and genres and their linking to the broader European literary tradition. The linguistic aspect of the study should not be an obstacle since the acquisition of medieval Spanish is not especially difficult. In the domain of prose, the relevant period scopes principally from the mid-13th to the mid-14th century, when the king Alfonso X establishes his renowned “school”, from which numerous works of law, historiography, science and philosophy emanate. The period also includes the works of Don Juan Manuel whose mainly didactic prose draws significantly from the broader Indo-European tradition of exemplary tales. Students who would opt for a topic analyzing the poetic tradition can choose from a series of themes ranging from the earliest pieces that mark the dawn of literary creation in Iberian Romance, i.e. the Mozarabic jarchas, through the works of the first known Spanish poets such as Gonzalo de Berceo, the appearance of the Galician-Portuguese school of lyrical poetry and the Cantigas de Santa María attributed to King Alfonso X. The range of medieval literary themes reaches up to 15th century, when we encounter important poetic compositions that are interesting from the point of view of the appearance of new metrical forms and styles, as well as thematic areas, which will become significant in literature of later periods. In addition, the analysis of verse or prose work from a historical-linguistic perspective would also be possible.

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(Dr Bayó Belenguer)

The Spanish Civil War

The Spanish Civil War remains one of the most written about conflicts of the 20th century (according to Hugh Thomas, by 1968 over 15,000 scholarly books, pamphlets, and memoirs had already appeared) and one that continues to arouse strong partisan feelings; some of the controversies are today as intense as seventy years ago. This topic therefore offers an opportunity to explore the Civil War from one of many perspectives: history – revolution, foreign intervention, women at war, the bombing of Guernika, refugees and exile, etc.; culture – from Spanish and non-Spanish sources (poetry, fiction, memoirs, films, documentaries, propaganda, etc.); exile – drawing on the many human dilemmas (ethical, ideological, emotional) revealed by Spanish writers.

The Writings of Manuel Azaña

Azaña, the embodiment of liberal, anticlerical, and progressive Republican ideals, Prime Minister from 1931 to 1933 and President after the Popular Front electoral victory of 1936, was a privileged observer of Spain’s descent into irreconcilable political factions. His writings (diaries, essays, fiction, etc.) offer a disturbing and rare insight into the 1920s and 1930s; the meditations on ‘the health of the Spanish body politic’ and on ‘the meaning and importance of the system of government’ reveal the clear-sightedness of a brilliant intellectual. His Civil War diaries capture the despair and frustration of a man whose tragedy might have been an inability to harness the abstract expression of his ideals to the living reality of 1930s Spain. There is ample scope for a variety of approaches to the dissertation.

Contemporary Spanish Politics and Society

Twentieth century Spain is conveniently divisible into pre-Franco, Francoist, and post-Franco eras (the Transition, 1975-1982 & Democracy, from 1982 onwards) and focus on any of these would be appropriate. An in-depth study could be made of any one aspect of the era of your choice (Basque, Galician, or Catalan nationalism, the Church, support for or resistance to the Franco dictatorship, political parties during and after the transition to democracy, terrorism, the press, immigration, women’s experiences of Francoist prisons, ‘la Ley de la Memoria Histórica’, Spain and Europe, etc.). This synchronic examination might explore the actions and reactions of, for example, the Francoist ‘Sección Femenina’. A broader overview could contrast and compare topics across eras (this evolutionary approach might consider how, for example, the Church adapted itself to changing conditions). Although a secondary bibliography must be consulted, there is no substitute for access to primary sources such as manifestos, interviews, newspaper articles, speeches, memoirs, autobiographies, etc.

Contemporary Spanish Fiction

The novel in the 20th century has been both a major influence on and a major recipient of influences from dynamic movements (political ideologies, literary theories, social upheavals, etc.) any one of which would provide a fruitful field for research. The area allows for considerable freedom and suggested authors would include:

Carmen Martín Gaite (1925-2000): perhaps the most significant writer of the ‘generación de los 50’. Her fiction, essays, criticism, and writings on literature could be

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explored by focussing on one or more of her main concerns: oppression v. freedom, communication v. lack of communication, friendship, love, the nature of literary creation (for example, in Entre visillos, Retahílas, Fragmentos de interior, El cuarto de atrás, Irse de casa, etc.)

Mercè Rodoreda (1908-1983): in exile for most of her adult life, she wrote novels and short stories which reveal an understated poetry of language with unremarkable, albeit memorable protagonists. La plaza del Diamante, a moving portrayal of pre-war and post-war Spain, and La muerte y la primavera, reminiscent of Kakfa (of whom she said: ‘es el modelo de todo arte radical’), are generally agreed to be exceptional works.

Carmen Laforet (1921-2004): best known for her first novel, Nada (1944) which debates existential questions of being and life in post-Civil War Barcelona. This work, written when she was only 23, was never matched with the same intensity by later writings, although La mujer nueva (1955) and Al volver la esquina (2004), published after her return to practising Catholicism in 1951, were to provide a formidable and intriguing insight into the author’s troubled middle years. An alternative focus could be found in her essays, or the correspondence she maintained with the exiled writer Ramón J. Sender (Puedo contar contigo, 2003).

Rosa Montero (1951-): a prize-winning journalist, she has become one of the most versatile novelists of the post-Franco generation. Her early fiction, in ‘new journalism’ mode, presents a grim, even ‘tremendista’, view of Spanish society (Crónica del desamor, La función Delta, Te trataré como a una reina, Amado Amo). In the 1990s she favoured structural experimentation (essay, memoir, metafiction, etc.) to reflect on the nature of fiction writing (Temblor, Bella y oscura, La loca de la casa, etc.).

Ana María Matute (1926-): her childhood experiences inspired Matute to create both bleakly realist as well as magically strange worlds. Her style, very distinctive in her baroque exuberance (metaphors and imagery are poetically unusual), reveals a writer who refuses to be pigeonholed. Her themes remain constant: death as a form of liberation, loss of innocence, love v. hate, injustice, envy, betrayal, survival, and fear. Her considerable output allows for a detailed study of either the short stories (Historias de Artámila, Algunos muchachos) or a selection of the novels (Primera memoria, Fiesta al Noroeste, La trampa, Los hijos muertos).

Manuel Vázquez Montalbán (1936-2003): Vázquez Montalbán, intellectual, poet, and novelist, created the private detective Pepe Carvalho, a vehicle in ‘hard-boiled’ style for a critical revelation of Spanish society in the wake of the death of Franco in 1975 and beyond. One of the most acerbic chroniclers of Spanish democracy, his Carvalho and non-Carvalho novels (El pianista, Galíndez, Los muchachos de Atzavara, etc.), essays, and journalism provide a unique slant on the socio-political and cultural changes of the last decades of the 20th century.

Miguel Delibes (1920-2010): Delibes, one of the most renowned Spanish novelists of the 20th century, was also a journalist, essayist, and travel writer. His enduring love for Castilla, where he was born, impelled him to write a series of books defending the natural world against the encroachment of modernization. His fiction has won the most prestigious literary awards (Las ratas, Los santos inocentes, Cinco horas con Mario, etc.), and many of his novels have been adapted for stage or screen. A dissertation could select from novels, travel writings, essays, or adaptations.

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Ramón J. Sender (1901-1982): author of one of the most poignant narratives of the Civil War, Réquiem por un campesino español, Sender was a most prolific writer, experimenting with different styles and exploring a wide-ranging variety of themes. With a keen sense of human comedy he penned fine humorous novels (for example, Mr. Witt en el Cantón, La tesis de Nancy) while at the opposite end of the spectrum, his political novels reflect the ideological debates of pre-Civil War Spain (Imán, Siete domingos rojos, El rey y la reina). Spanish Cinema

1. The productions of the 1940s and early 1950s, not all of which were uncritically pro-Franco, are sometimes described as thematically uninspiring and artistically defunct but nonetheless offer rewarding avenues for research. The New Wave films of the 1960s to mid-1970s brought a generation of directors who experimented with visual techniques to capture metaphorically the claustrophobic society of the dictatorship (Luis Buñuel, Carlos Saura, Luis García Berlanga, Juan Antonio Bardem, Víctor Erice, etc.). Alternatively, the post-Franco film-makers allow scope for exploring either similar themes in the works of two directors or the filmography of one director (Pedro Almódovar, Alejandro Aménabar, Mario Camus, Pilar Miró, Iciar Bollaín, Isabel Coixet, etc.).

2. The adaptation to the screen of Spanish literature presents another fruitful area – since 1975 some of the best scriptwriters and directors have produced aesthetically beautiful and disturbing films (for example, the adaptation of Lorca’s Bodas de sangre and Yerma, the novels of Miguel Delibes or the works of Manuel Rivas). (Dr O’Hagan) Cadalso and the Dream of Reason José Cadalso (1741 – 1782) poet and satirist, is arguably one of the most influential figures of late eighteenth –century Spain. Although his Cartas marruecas, the work for which he is best remembered, is often seen to champion Enlightenment ideals of reason and rationality, there is much to suggest that Cadalso also questioned the Enlightenment belief in the self-sufficiency of reason. A dissertation on this subject could examine the tension between Cadalso’s faith and crisis of faith in reason, as well as the extent to which his principal works are a reflection of the ‘cara y cruz’ of European Enlightenment thought. Pedro Montengón’s Eusebio Despite recent reassessments of the merits of Spanish Enlightenment literature, the eighteenth-century Spanish novel has yet to receive significant critical attention. Nowhere is this more evident than in the case of the novelist Pedro Montengón 91745-1825). His first novel Eusebio (1786-88), although enthusiastically received in the eighteenth century, is no longer widely read. Set in North America among the Pennsylvanian Quakers and dealing with shipwreck and love, the novel is a compendium of Enlightenment ideas. A dissertation on Eusebio could range from an analysis of the dialectical nature of space in the novel to a discussion of the importance of fate and

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religious tolerance. Montengón’s treatment of women would be another possible area for consideration. The New York Poetry of Federico García Lorca (1898-1936) In a letter to Jorge Guillén in 1927, Lorca wrote: ‘no quiero que me encasillen’. It was partly in response to this desire not to be typecast as a regional poet that Lorca left for America in 1929 intent on developing a more cosmopolitan dimension to his work. A dissertation on Lorca’s Poeta en Nueva York could analyse the nature of American space in the collection, locating it within the European literary tradition of the New World. Another possible area of study would be to trace Lorca’s development as a poet through a detailed textual analysis of representative examples from three collections of his poetry, notably Romancero gitano, Poeta en Nueva York and Llanto por la muerte de Ignacio Sánchez Mejías, which best exemplify Lorca’s success in reconciling his Andalusian origins with the avant-garde movements of early twentieth-century Europe.

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Stages involved in the preparation of a DISSERTATION 1. A period of thought to determine in what area you might want to work (novel, poetry, drama, history), whether you wish to produce a dissertation on a single author/work or write a comparative study, whether you wish to concentrate on specific themes in one or more authors, whether you wish to explore, for example, how a work transcends the purely literary area or relates to extra-literary concerns etc. 2. Having delimited the terrain and carved out for yourself a manageable area for your attention, a process of intensive reading should ensue. Frequent recourse to the library is necessary to discover the availability of books and periodicals relevant to your topic (use the computer catalogue, looking under subject as well as author). You should attempt to build a comprehensive bibliography (primary and secondary), which will be added to as you read, take notes and store them in such a way that you can refer to them quickly when necessary. Do not omit to record page references as well as details of book (author, title, place of publication, publisher, year of publication etc.): it will save you a great deal of time later. You must ensure that you follow the same convention and appropriate referencing when accessing material on the web. 3. Be prepared to modify your original project as time goes on. Given the time at your disposal, decide at what point to call a halt to your reading. Try to envisage how your dissertation will shape up (the number of chapters there will be, the content of each chapter etc.). 4. At a given point in time, do your best to marshal your material and put yourself in a position to write. 5. Having written your final draft, be prepared to revise it several times and edited it thoroughly before having it printed.

NB. Much preliminary work ought to be done in the summer vacation. Presentation of the Dissertation (2 copies required) The dissertation must be presented typewritten on A4 paper, doubled spaced, with a margin, on one side of the paper only, and enclosed securely in a folder. Type your name, your student number, home address, and your supervisor's name on the front page. It must be carefully checked for typing and spelling errors, which may be corrected neatly, by hand. A dissertation of 10,000 - 15,000 words is, necessarily, a more ambitious undertaking than an essay. Its length prescribes a structure different from that of an essay. A dissertation should comprise:

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1) A contents page, immediately after the title page. 2) An introduction in which the aims of the dissertation are laid down in concise form. This introduction need not be long. It should specify the broad divisions of the dissertation and allow the reader a synthetic glimpse of what lies in store. 3) A number of titled chapters of roughly equal length which will constitute the main body of the dissertation. 4) A brief conclusion which will draw together the various strands of the dissertation in the way of a final statement. 5) Notes (these may be endnotes, after each chapter, or footnotes). 6) Bibliography. 7) Appendices (if appropriate).

Long quotations should be inset on the page in single spacing without quotation marks. Short quotations should be enclosed in single quotation marks and should run on with the text. The bibliography should be presented alphabetically, with the surname appearing first. Book titles should be italicized. Articles should be enclosed by single quotation marks, and the books or journals from which they are taken italicized. For example:

Hassan, Ihab. The Dismemberment of Orpheus. New York: Oxford University Press, 1971.

Barth, John. ‘The Literature of Exhaustion’. The Novel Today. Ed. M. Bradbury London: Fontana, 1991.

Beardsell, Peter. ‘Usigli’s Political Drama in Perspective’. Bulletin of

Hispanic Studies 66 (1989): 251-61. Use a short form (author’s surname, short title and page ref. only) in any subsequent citations. Note that in Spanish titles only the first letter of the title is capitalised, except for proper names and words that always have a capital letter. See, for example, the following novel titles: Cinco horas con Mario; Su único hijo. All web citations should be referenced in text, and should be included in the Bibliography: for example, http://cvc.cervantes.es/lengua/default.htm (accessed 18th April 2007). Quotations from a literary work should be identified in some simple fashion: e.g. act and line-numbers of play (III, vv. (= versos) 224-239); stanza number or line-numbers of poem; chapter and page-number of novel (ch. 45, p. 283). Indicate which edition you are using: once is enough. These references can be put in your text and need not be relegated to footnotes or endnotes. In other words, avoid a string of footnotes or endnotes referring only to the work that you are chiefly discussing.

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Plagiarism

Plagiarism is interpreted by the University as the act of presenting the work of others as one's own work, without acknowledgement. Plagiarism is considered as academically fraudulent, and an offence against University discipline. The University considers plagiarism to be a major offence, and subject to the disciplinary procedures of the University. Plagiarism can arise from deliberate actions and also through careless thinking and/or methodology. The offence lies not in the attitude or intention of the perpetrator, but in the action and in its consequences. Plagiarism can arise from actions such as: 6) copying another student's work; 7) enlisting another person or persons to complete an assignment on the student's behalf. 8) quoting directly, without acknowledgement, from books, articles or the internet,

either in printed, recorded or electronic format; 9) paraphrasing, without acknowledgement, the writings of other authors

Examples (c) and (d) in particular can arise through careless thinking and/or methodology where students:

d) fail to distinguish between their own ideas and those of others. e) fail to take proper notes during preliminary research and therefore lose track of

the sources from which the notes were drawn; f) fail to distinguish between information which needs no acknowledgement

because it is firmly in the public domain, and information which might be widely known, but which nevertheless requires some sort of acknowledgement;

g) come across a distinctive methodology or idea and fail to record its source.

All the above serve only as examples and are not exhaustive. Students should submit work done in co-operation with other students only when it is done with the full knowledge and permission of the lecturer concerned. Without this, work submitted which is the product of collusion with other students may be considered to be plagiarism.

It is clearly understood that all members of the academic community use and build on the work of others. It is commonly accepted also, however, that we build on the work of others in an open and explicit manner, and with due acknowledgement. Many cases of plagiarism that arise could be avoided by following some simple guidelines:

h) Any material used in a piece of work, of any form, that is not the original thought

of the author should be fully referenced in the work and attributed to its source. The material should either be quoted directly or paraphrased. Either way, an explicit citation of the work

i) referred to should be provided, in the text, in a footnote, or both. Not to do so is to commit plagiarism.

j) When taking notes from any source it is very important to record the precise words or ideas that are being used and their precise sources.

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k) While the Internet often offers a wider range of possibilities for researching particular themes, it also requires particular attention to be paid to the distinction between one's own work and the work of others. Particular care should be taken to keep track of the source of the electronic information obtained from the Internet or other electronic sources and ensure that it is explicitly and correctly acknowledged. It is the responsibility of the author of any work to ensure that he/she does not commit plagiarism. Students should ensure the integrity of their work by seeking advice from their lecturers, tutor or supervisor on avoiding plagiarism. All departments should include, in their handbooks or other literature given to students, advice on the appropriate methodology for the kind of work that students will be expected to undertake. If plagiarism is suspected, the Head of Department will arrange an informal meeting with the student, the student's tutor, and the lecturer concerned, to put their suspicions to the student and give the student the opportunity to respond. If the Head of Department forms the view that plagiarism has taken place, he/she must notify the Senior Lecturer in writing of the facts of the case and suggested remedies, who will then advise the Junior Dean. The Junior Dean will interview the student if the facts of the case are in dispute. Whether or not the facts of the case are in dispute, the Junior Dean may implement the procedures set out in CONDUCT AND COLLEGE REGULATIONS §2.

NB Please retain this information booklet in a safe place, for future reference during your final year.

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DEPARTMENT OF HISPANIC STUDIES

SENIOR SOPHISTER CHOICES FOR MOD II IN 2011-2012 SPECIAL SUBJECTS

First Choice: Second Choice: Third Choice: DISSERTATION TOPICS SUPERVISORS

FIRST CHOICE: SECOND CHOICE: NAME DATE ________ Home Address_________________________________ ____________________________________________________________

PLEASE COMPLETE AND RETURN BY Wednesday 22nd June 2011.