SPAN 415 Latin American Short Fiction
This course examines a wide selection of narrative texts written in the Iberian Peninsula and Latin America in their literary, artistic, and historical contexts. While our primary focus is devoted to the analysis of 20th century short fiction by Latin American canonical writers, including Jorge Luis Borges, Elena Poniatowska, Julio Cortázar, and Luisa Valenzuela, in order to fully understand the rich and complex origins of said production, our inquiry begins with a close examination of 16th century chronicles of the New World- a curious collection of historiography, essays, letter writing, epic poetry and travel books that problematize the relationship between history and literature. Together, we use these texts to shed further light on what Roland Barthes in his essay "Introduction to Structural Analysis of Narrative," has described as the "international, transhistorical and transcultural" manifestations of narrative.
Prerequisite
Must have taken two of the following courses: SPAN 300, SPAN 301, or SPAN 302