Course Schedule*

*The professor reserves the right to modify the schedule when necessary

January 8

Introduction to the course

Overview of cultural traditions related to Death and Dying in Spain and Latin America

 

January 10

 Collective/Popular responses to Death: The Gender of Death

Literary and Artistic Representations of Death and Dying (lyric, narrative, dramatic)

Print out and read: "The Dance of Death" (text and image) and "Love and Death" (early ballads)

Journal topic: If you were to personify death, what would this person be like?

 

January 15

Death and Loss

"Coplas on the Death of His Father" (Jorge Manrique, 1440-1479) Questions to answer

January 17

"Llanto por Ignacio Sánchez Mejías" (García Lorca) Questions to answer

 

January 22 

"The Image of Misfortune" (Juan Carlos Onetti) in Oxford Book of Latin American Short Stories

"When Women Loved Men" (Rosario Ferre) in Oxford Book of Latin American Short Stories  Questions to answer for these stories

 

Journal Topic: As we have seen in the poems by Jorge Manrique and Federico García Lorca, each poet uses his art to come to terms with the loss of someone dear. This expression differs in the two poems according to the specific cultural and historical contexts of the time in which they lived. If you were to experience the loss of someone close, how would you express that loss artistically? Through a poem? a song? a painting? What would you include? (images, descriptions?)

 

January 24

Eros and Thanatos (Love and Death)

Eglogue I (Garcilaso de la Vega)

"The Clearing" (Luisa Mercedes Levinson, 205-210) in Oxford Book of Latin American Short Stories 

January 29

Death, Honor, and the Undeceived

Selected Poems (Francisco de Quevedo, Luis de Góngora, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz) Please read these poems.

 
 

January 31

The Surgeon of His Honour Act I (Calderón de la Barca in Course Pack, pp.49-62)  

 

February 5

The Surgeon of His Honour Acts II and III (Calderón de la Barca in Course Pack, pp.62-89)

Questions to answer

 

February 7

The Chronicle of a Death Foretold (García Márquez, 3-24) Answer these questions

What is magical realism? Here is another page of links to information on magical realism 

 

February 12

The Chronicle of a Death Foretold (25-95) Questions to answer

***Culture Reports Due***

 

February 14

The Chronicle of a Death Foretold (96-120) Questions to answer

"Encarnación Mendoza’s Christmas Eve" (Juan Bosch, 247-255) in Oxford Book  of Latin American Short Stories 

Presentation: Belinda Kabesha and Sarah Stuart

 

February 19

"The Decapitated Chicken" (Horacio Quiroga,118-124 Oxford Book 

of Latin American Short Stories

Presentation: Stephanie Roberts and Kristie Schmidt

"Tell Them Not to Kill Me" (Juan Rulfo, 284-289) in Oxford Book  of Latin American Short Stories 

Presentation: Patrick Blakemore and Zach Warner

February 21

Death and Modern Dilemmas: Aesthetic and Philosophical Approximations

"The Tragic Sense of Life" (Read: Miguel de Unamuno)

"San Manuel, the Good" (1-11, Miguel de Unamuno) Questions to answer

 

February 26

 "San Manuel, the Good" (12-28, Miguel de Unamuno) Questions to answer

 

February 28

***Midterm Exam***

 

March 4 and 6 Spring Break

March 11

Political and Social Contexts: Repression and Death (Struggles for Independence)

"The Slaughterhouse" (Esteban Echevarría, 59-72) in Oxford Book  of Latin American Short Stories  

Presentation: Ashley Dobbelaire and Laura Geiken

"Buried Statues" (Antonio Benítez Rojo, 406-418) in Oxford Book  of Latin American Short Stories 

Presentation: Mara Putvin and Corrine Spencer

 

March 13

A Single Numberless Death (Forward ix-xi; 2-88)

 

March 18

A Single Numberless Death (88-156) Create 5 of you own questions about the novel.

 

March 20

A Single Numberless Death (157-171)

The tradition of the "Calaveras" José Guadalupe Posada 

Semana Santa in Sevilla

 

March 25

Pedro Paramo (Juan Rulfo) (1-22) Reading guide and questions

Octavio Paz, The Day of the Dead from The Labyrinth of Solitude (1950) (Course Pack, pp.91-120)  

***Topic of final paper due

March 27

Pedro Paramo (Juan Rulfo) (23-66) Reading guide and questions

A helpful list of characters and possible series of events

 

April 1

Pedro Paramo (Juan Rulfo) (66-124) Reading guide and questions

April 3

Popular tradition: La llorona

Life and Death: Literary Manipulations

The Shrouded Woman (Maria Luisa Bombal) (Course Pack, pp.121-136; pages 157-177 of work)

April 8

The Shrouded Woman (Maria Luisa Bombal) (Course Pack, pp.136-173) Questions

"Unborn" (Augosto Roa Bastos, 330-336) in Oxford Book  of Latin American Short Stories 

Presentation: Kelli Deemter and Nicole Shire

 

April 10

"Journey Back to the Source" (Alejo Carpentier, 221-232) in Oxford Book  of Latin American Short Stories 

Presentation: Eric Brower and Megan Higgins

"The Night Face Up" (Julio Cortázar, 337-344) in Oxford Book  of Latin American Short Stories 

Presentation: Kalli Cavadeas and Chris Harig

 

April 15

"The Garden of Forking Paths (Jorge Luis Borges, 211-220) in Oxford Book  of Latin American Short Stories 

 

Presentation: Bridgette Flynn and Jessica Ochoa

 

"The Threshold" (Cristina Peri Rossi, 438-442) in Oxford Book  of Latin American Short Stories 

 

Presentation: Mindy Taggart and Carl Walters

 

Review, Final Discussion

April 17

Research day for final paper

 

 

April 24

 4:00-5:50 p.m. Turn in Final Paper and Journal

 

 

Main