FREN520B

Écrire l’utopie en France (18e-19e siècles)

Instructor: Joël Castonguay-Bélanger
Language of instruction: French

Construction imaginaire d’une alternative face aux limites et aux vices du présent, description d’un espace idéal qui se serait développé dans les marges de l’histoire, l’utopie participe à la fois de la quête d’un monde meilleur et de la critique de l’ordre existant. Parce qu’elle se présente comme l’expression d’une réalité affranchie de la vérité historique, parce que ses auteurs la situent le plus généralement quelque part entre ailleurs et nulle part, l’utopie se retrouve souvent rangée sur le même rayon que celui des œuvres d’imagination.

Depuis le début du XVIe siècle, moment où Thomas More forge le mot, son écriture emprunte les artifices de la fiction. Elle donnera lieu à une riche tradition littéraire qui se déclinera sous différentes formes : récit de voyage fantaisiste, traité politique, législation imaginaire, roman d’anticipation, etc. Si le discours utopique se donne à lire comme la projection d’un imaginaire politique et social enviable, mais le plus souvent irréalisable, celui-ci reste toutefois toujours en prise avec le réel qu’il entend réformer. Nous interroger sur ce statut ambigu de l’imaginaire utopique, tel qu’il se donne à lire sous la plume de quelques auteurs des 18e et 19e siècles, est l’objectif de ce séminaire.

Une sélection de textes et d’extraits de:
Montesquieu
Étienne-Gabriel Morelly
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Denis Diderot
Condorcet
Louis Sébastien Mercier
Saint-Simon
Charles Fourier
Étienne Cabet

Note: FREN 520 may be taken twice, with different content, for a maximum of 6 credits.

Gender and Sexuality in the Early Modern Stage

Cross-listed with SPAN505B

Commedia dell'arte troupe by unknown artist, c. 1580; in the Musée Carnavalet, Paris.

Expect to read some of the most outstanding theatrical plays of the early modern period from a comparative perspective, bringing together texts from various literary traditions. In this course students will explore both the common themes and diverging practices of the Spanish, French, Italian, English and Novohispanic stages. The seminar will examine baroque theatricality, meta-theatricality, stagecraft and the distinct treatment of women in the performance space, while paying particular attention to the varied ways that gender, sex and sexuality are represented. Readings might include plays by Shakespeare, Cervantes, Racine and Calderón; Caro Mallén de Soto, Sor Juana and Aphra Behn; Marlowe, Molière, Machiavelli and Tirso; Lope de Vega, Corneille, Ruiz de Alarcón and Middleton, among other.

Language of instruction: Spanish

Recommended prerequisites: SPAN 221; and SPAN 301 or equivalent expertise in written and spoken Spanish

Breaking the Mold: Gender Representation(s) in Hispanic Literature and Culture

El curso es una introducción al papel de la mujer en España desde el siglo XVIII hasta nuestros días. El énfasis, sin embargo, se pondrá en las aportaciones al discurso feminista español de algunas de estas artistas, escritoras y directoras, sin perder de vista el contexto histórico, político, social, económico y cultural español y europeo en el que se insertan.

Algunas de las preguntas que se plantearán en el curso son: ¿Qué implica ser una escritora, artista o directora de cine en el contexto social y político en el que produce su obra? ¿Cómo se enfrenta la artista a ello y cómo se posiciona en referencia a entidades como la nación y cuestiones como el nacionalismo? ¿Qué problemática específica se le plantea al sujeto femenino en situaciones de colonialismo? ¿En qué manera las mujeres transforman la literatura y el arte de la tradición? ¿Cómo se construye y reinventa el sujeto femenino? ¿Cómo se plantea la cuestión de la identidad sexual y el cuerpo?

OBJETIVOS:

El curso tiene cuatro objetivos centrales:

1) que el estudiante adquiera un visión general e introductoria de la historia de las

mujeres en España durante los siglos XVIII, XIX y XX, en el marco de la historia de las mujeres en Occidente.

2) que el estudiante adquiera una visión introductoria y general de la producción cultural femenina—artística, literaria y fílmica—en España durante esos mismos siglos.

3) que el estudiante explore en detalle la obra de alguna de las directoras de cine o escritoras más destacadas o relevantes de la cultura española:

4) que, en función de todo lo anterior, el estudiante reflexione sobre una diversidad de temas en referencia a la relación entre cultura y mujer, y principalmente desde el punto de vista de las mujeres mismas

Language of instruction: Spanish

Instructor: Dr. María Soledad Fernández Utrera

Recommended pre-requisites: SPAN 221; and SPAN 301 or equivalent expertise in written and spoken Spanish.

Upper Intermediate Spanish II

Spanish 402 is the next level of language proficiency for those who have completed Span 302, 401, or have an equivalent language competence, and for bilingual  students.

With an approach that is communicative and interactive, Span 402 fosters experiential learning and critical reflection through reflection, collaboration, creative writing and community engagement. It aims to refine the skills acquired in Span 302, while broadening students’ knowledge of the Spanish language and the Hispanic world. The course concentrates on key linguistic and contextual concepts, methods, and approaches of discourse analysis, as well as metalinguistic reflection and creative writing exercises.

Students will have the opportunity to consolidate and expand their language and communicative proficiency (speaking, listening, reading, and writing) skills as well as intercultural competencies and creativity. Through the exploration of complex aspects of the language from a discursive perspective, beyond the sentence level, students will delve into syntactic, morphological, and semantic resources through various discursive genres, including literature, criticism, and journalism, practice in academic writing, critical discussions of reading and audiovisual materials

Span 402 gives student the opportunity to put into practice what they learn hands on by engaging actively with the Spanish speaking community, locally and abroad, developing projects through Spanish for Community.

The reading and audiovisual materials are freely accessible online. Instead of a final exam, students will submit a portfolio showcasing best examples of their course work and self reflection. Prerequisites for the course include completion of Span 302, 401, or an equivalent level with permission from the instructor.

The course is focused on:

• Grammatical analysis, vocabulary enrichment, and socio-cultural competency using a wide variety of authentic documents from the Spanish-speaking world, including literature, criticism, journalism, and more.
• Deep understanding of both concrete and abstract topics in complex written and oral texts.
• Researching and synthesizing relevant resources.
• Producing clear, adequate, nuanced, and well-structured written and oral communication on a range of topics, utilizing critical thinking, creativity, and rhetorical strategies.
• Fostering learner autonomy and self-reflection.
• Applying  communicative skills in  real contexts by engaging and collaborating  with the Hispanic community.

Learning objectives include:

• Expanding the capacity for reflective analysis of linguistic and stylistic mechanisms in the production of literary and non-literary texts.
• Distinguishing and utilizing complex grammatical resources in written and oral communication within specific contexts.
• Applying strategies of academic writing to create coherent, cohesive, and appropriate argumentative texts, while recognizing different levels of formality and lexical specificity.
• Practicing comprehensive reading and interpreting literary and non-literary texts critically.
• Extracting specific information from bibliographic sources.

Developing communication skills and  critical thinking skills for addressing social issues and/or for enriching community life though community engaged language projects.

Prerequisite: SPAN 302 or equivalent expertise in written and spoken Spanish.

Language of instruction: Spanish

Modern Magics: Spanish-American Literature and Culture since the 1820s

This course aims to familiarize students with major concepts and trends in Latin American literature through a discussion of representative works from the most important aesthetic movements of the past two centuries, such as modernismo, realismo mágico, the Boom, testimonio, and the Post-Boom. By studying a selection of canonical Latin American works from different regions and literary genres (poetry, essays, prose, etc.), students will become familiar with the ways in which Latin American literature and culture have influenced, critiqued, and been shaped by issues such as colonialism, national identity, race, gender, migration, nature, and political violence.

The theme of our course is “Continuidades y Rupturas,” which speaks to the literary anxieties experienced in the Spanish-speaking Americas since Independence. To that end, we’ll consider how Latin American authors participate in and break with the (Ancient, Classical, European, U.S., etc.) literary tradition, as well as how these anxieties mirror and echo political, economic, and broader cultural anxieties. Spanish is the language of course readings, discussions, and assessments (written/oral).

Language of instruction: Spanish

Recommended pre-requisites: SPAN 221; and SPAN 301 or equivalent expertise in written and spoken Spanish.