Fall 2006

(Course information subject to change)
(Cross-reference with Department Roster)

Spanish 110
Elementary Spanish
Staff
(See Timetables for times)

This course is intended for students with no previous study experience in Spanish. It introduces students to the language and to Hispanic culture, while promoting the development of the four language skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Students develop the ability to communicate in Spanish in everyday, practical situations and begin reading and writing short texts in the language.

Spanish 112
Elementary Spanish: Accelerated
Staff
MWF 9:00-10:00; TR 9:00-10:30

This is an accelerated course designed for the student who has already achieved intermediate proficiency in a second language and wants to study Spanish as a third language. The course covers two semesters of the regular Spanish course in one semester. Students wishing to enroll must have prior approval from the Coordinator.

Spanish 115
Spanish for the Medical Professions I
Staff
MW 6:30-8:30

This course introduces beginning students to the fundamentals of practical Spanish usage in medical situations. The course is two-pronged: linguistic competence in Spanish will be stressed along with a focus on applied medical terminology. Emphasis will be placed on all four skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing, with a specific focus on perfecting speaking and listening skills. Students will be expected to participate actively in classroom activities such as role-playing based on typical office and emergency procedures.

Spanish 120
Elementary Spanish
Staff
MTWRF 11:00-12:00

Spanish 120 is the continuation of Spanish 110. Students who place into a second-level Spanish course in the placement test should take Spanish 121.

Prerequisite: Spanish 110 at Penn.

Spanish 121
Elementary Spanish
Staff
(See Timetables for times)

Spanish 125
Spanish for the Medical Professions II
Staff
MW 6:30-8:30

Spanish 130
Intermediate Spanish
Staff
(See Timetables for times)

Spanish 130 is a third-semester content-based language course designed to help students achieve intermediate-mid competency in Spanish. It emphasizes the development of reading, writing, listening and speaking skills in an academic context. Throughout the course, students will explore the history and literature of Spanish-speakers in the United States, Spain, Central America and the Caribbean. This course emphasizes the linguistic skills necessary to investigate, understand and express cultural themes in Spanish. Prerequisites: Spanish 120 or equivalent score on the placement exam or SATII.

Spanish 135
Spanish for the Medical Professions, Intermediate I
Staff
MW 6:30-8:00 PM

Spanish 136
Spanish for Heritage Speakers I
Staff
TR 10:30-12:00

Spanish 140
Intermediate Spanish
Staff
(See Timetables for times)

Spanish 140 is a fourth-semester content-based language course designed to help students achieve intermediate-mid competency in Spanish. It emphasizes the development of reading, writing, listening and speaking skills in an academic context. Throughout the course, students will explore the history and literature of Spanish-speakers in Central and South America. This course emphasizes the linguistic skills necessary to investigate, understand and express cultural themes in Spanish.

Prerequisite: Spanish 130 or equivalent score on the placement exam or SAT II.

Spanish 145
Spanish for the Medical Professions, Intermediate II
MW 6:30-8:00

Spanish 180
Spanish Conversation in Residence
Staff

Students must be residents of the Modern Language College House.

Spanish 202
Advanced Spanish
Staff
(See Timetables for times)

The purpose of this course is twofold: (a) to develop students’ communicative abilities (that is, speaking, listening, reading and writing) in Spanish and (b) to increase their awareness and understanding of Hispanic cultures and societies. Homework and classroom activities are designed to help students build their oral proficiency, expand and perfect their knowledge of vocabulary and grammatical structures, improve their reading and writing skills, and develop their critical thinking abilities. The readings for this class include short stories, newspaper articles, poems, songs, cartoons, and the novel by Gabriel García Márquez, Crónica de una muerte anunciada. Three Hispanic films (with English or Spanish subtitles) are seen outside of class during the semester. At the completion of this course students will feel confident discussing and debating a variety of contemporary issues (cultural and religious practices, family relationships, gender stereotypes, political events, immigration to USA, etc.).

Prerequisite: successful completion of Spanish 140 or its equivalent

Spanish 208
Business Spanish I
Staff
(See Timetables for times)

This course is designed to develop students' use of Spanish for business purposes. It is conducted in Spanish. In addition to technical vocabulary, an outline of the geography, demography, forms of government, and current economic issues facing Latin American countries and Spain is presented in lectures, readings, and translations.

Prerequisite(s): Spanish 140 or equivalent.

Spanish 212
Advanced Spanish Syntax
Staff
(See Timetables for times)

A rigorous advanced grammar course. Emphasis on acquisition of a solid knowledge of all important points of Spanish grammar, plus rules governing colloquial usage. Required of all majors and minors. Also useful for non-majors who wish to improve their language skills before beginning advanced courses on culture, or for those who want a practical working knowledge of Spanish for career work. Class work consists mostly of discussion and correction of assigned exercises.

Prerequisite(s): Spanish 202 or equivalent.

Spanish 215
Spanish for the Professions I
Staff
MW 5:00-6:30

Spanish for the Professions is designed to provide advanced-level language students (post-proficiency) with a wide technical vocabulary and understanding of key areas in the developing Latin American countries. Emphasis is placed on the enhancement of technical vocabulary and solid communicative skills. A series of topics including politics, economy, society, health, environment, education and science and technology will reveal realities and underlying challenges in the Latin American scenario. Through essays, papers, articles, research, discussions, case studies, and videotapes we will take an in-depth look at the dynamics of Latin American societies and the outlook for their future. The course will focus on - but not be restricted to - Mexico, Cuba and Argentina.

Prerequisite(s): Spanish 202 or equivalent.

Spanish 219
The Contexts of Hispanic Civilization
Staff
(See Timetables for times)

The primary objective of this course is to provide students with the historical, geographic and aesthetic background relevant to the study of Hispanic culture (cultural literacy). It also stresses techniques of textual criticism and knowledge of research materials available about Hispanic topics. The principal purpose of Spanish 219 is to prepare students to do advanced work on the cultural manifestations of the Hispanic world. Requirements include frequent writing assignments, revision, and 3 hourly exams. Prerequisite(s): Spanish 212.

Spanish 221-301
Development of the Spanish Short Story
Prof. Fernández
TR 10:30-12:00

In this course, we will study the development and evolution of the Spanish short story from a narratological perspective. This class will engage students in a close reading of stories from the Middle Ages to the present. Among other authors included in this course, students will read works by Don Juan Manuel, Miguel de Cervantes, María de Zayas, Emilia Pardo Bazán, Benito Pérez Galdós, Pío Baroja and Marina Mayoral. Students will learn to analyze and recognize different points of view, voices and narrative strategies in the readings and, at the same time, they will become aware of their active role as readers in the text.

Pre-requisite(s): Spanish 219.

Spanish 250-601
Major Works in Spanish and Latin American Literature
Prof. Regueiro
MW 5:00-6:30

From the rise of the novel with Cervantes' Don Quixote in early-modern Spain to the Latin American "boom" with García Márquez' One Hundred Years of Solitude, this course will examine these and other major works in Hispanic literature within the cultural, political, and social context of each period.

Spanish 285-601
Introduction to Spanish Film
Prof. Solomon
T 5:30-8:30

An introduction and overview of Spanish film from its roots in the late nineteenth century to its recent rise to international prominence. Special attention will be paid to the social and political movements that led to the growth and development of Spanish film. Screenings include works by Segundo de Chomón (The Golden Beatle and Hotel Electric), Fernando Reyes (The Cursed Village) , Juan Antonio Bardem (Death of a Cyclist), Carlos Saura ( The Seventh Day), Julio Medem (Vacas), Pedro Almódovar (Bad Education), and Alejandro Amenábar (Tesis). This course is taught in ENGLISH. All screened films will be subtitled or simultaneously translated.

For more information, follow this link to the course website.

Click here to see the course spot video.

Spanish 317-301
Introduction to Spanish Linguistics
Prof. Espòsito
MWF 12:00-1:00

This course is an introduction to Spanish linguistics, with emphasis on the Spanish sound system and the flexional and derivational morphology of the Spanish lexicon.  Topics to be covered include articulatory phonetics, use of the phonetic alphabet, English and Spanish contrastive phonology, regional and social variations of Spanish, structure of the Spanish verb, word formation and inflection. Readings in both Spanish and English.  Quizzes, mid-term, and a final examination during finals week. Prerequisite(s): Spanish 219.

Spanish 350-301
Gothic tradition in Spanish Literature
TR 12:00-1:30
Prof. Fernández

This course examines how the Gothic tradition is manifested in Spain by reading and analyzing the works of different Spanish writers from the Romantic period to the present, such as Bécquer, Emilia Pardo Bazán, Pío Baroja and Cristina Fernández Cubas. Although the emphasis is on Spanish literature, film and literary works from other national traditions will be incorporated, such as English and American, in order to compare the different uses of Gothic. Students, thus, will also read works by Walpole, Lord Byron and John Polidory, as well as watch movies such as Erice’s El espíritu de la colmena and Amenábar’s The Others. By the end of the semester, students will have gained a better understanding of what the Gothic tradition is and how it manifests itself in different cultures.

Pre-requisite Spanish 219.

Spanish 380-301
Exemplary Fictions: Authority and Identity in the Spanish Renaissance Novella
Prof. Burk
TR 1:30-3:00

This course will explore the productive tension between authority and transgression as it informs the relationship of writer to text and of text to reader. We will consider how a text confronts literary and social paradigms of genre, gender, religion, and caste and, particularly, how the Italian novella, touted by Cervantes as “exemplary,” becomes a distinctive form for evaluating and manipulating identity, both individual and national, in early modern Spain. We address the role of the short story collection and of variations among early editions of the texts in the creation of meaning. The class will acquaint students with early modern history and society to better situate their critical analyses of the cultural production of the period. Our course seeks to refine students’ close reading skills toward the ultimate aim of their developing a cogent critical perspective. Class assignments include Lazarillo de Tormes, El abencerraje, Miguel Cervantes’s Novelasejemplares, and María de Zayas’s Desengaños amorosos along with related historical and critical works.

Prerequisite(s): Spanish 219.

Spanish 380-302
Coming of Age in the Andes
Prof. Knight
MWF 11:00-12:00

This course examines contemporary narratives of childhood and adolescence from Peru and Ecuador. These stories critique the forces that shape young people as they attempt to define themselves in highly stratified societies marked by racial, ethnic, gender, and class divisions. Texts for the course include three novels (Icaza’s El chulla Romero y Flores, Vargas Llosa’s La ciudad y los perros, and Bryce Echenique’s Un mundo para Julius), four films, and various short stories.

Prerequisite(s): Spanish 219.

Spanish 386-301
Cubanas: Cultural Production and Social Change
Prof. García-Serrano
MWF 12:00-1:00

Through the examination of works produced by contemporary Cuban women writers and artists, students will gain an understanding of how the political and social upheavals that took place in Cuba throughout the twentieth century --Machado´s dictatorship, Castro´s Revolution, exile, “Special Period”-- have shaken and shaped women’s lives and works. In our class discussions special attention will be given to the construction of a national and cultural identity, race and gender relationships, and women’s aesthetics. Readings by Lydia Cabrera, Nancy Morejón, Mireya Robles, Ana Mendieta, Zoé Valdés, and Ena Lucía Portela.

Prerequisite(s): Spanish 219.

Spanish 386-401
Transforming the “Real” in 20th-Century Spanish America
Prof. Austin
TR 10:30-12:00

This course will consider the various ways in which literature represents “reality” throughout 20th-century Spanish America.  We will study literary movements—from Surrealism to Magic Realism and Postmodernism—that attempt to articulate (an external or internal) reality through mechanisms of transformation that permit narrative to perform a literal or metaphysical approximation of the real.  In this seminar we will pay special attention to these aesthetics of the “real” and the philosophies that shape them as we analyze texts by writers such as Miguel Ángel Asturias, Pablo Neruda, Alejo Carpentier, and Severo Sarduy.  We will also see several films over the course of the semester.

Prerequisite(s): Spanish 219.

Spanish 390-401
Introduction to Spanish American Literature
Prof. Knight
MWF 10:00-11:00

The Amazon jungle evokes opposing images. It has been described alternately as paradise lost and green hell, a place to retreat from the restraints of civilization or to be devoured by savage men and beasts, a land of natural abundance and environmental degradation. Our objective in this course is not to determine which of these descriptions is most accurate, but to understand how these opposing visions were created and what they aim to communicate. As we explore the Amazon through works of fiction we will gain an appreciation of the problems and promise of the region as well as increased knowledge of important authors, themes, and techniques of Spanish American literature.

Texts for the course include short stories by Horacio Quiroga and the novels Cumandá by Juan León Mera, La vorágine by José Eustasio Rivera, Los pasos perdidos by Alejo Carpentier, La casa verde by Mario Vargas Llosa, and El viejo que leía novelas de amor by Luis Sepúlveda.

Prerequisite(s): Spanish 219.

Spanish 390-402
The Idea of Latin America Through Literature
Prof. Montoya
MWF 11:00-12:00

One of the constants in the Hispanic thinking since the 19 th century has been the idea of “ Latin America” as a historical and cultural wholeness sharing a common destiny. However, contradictions in this concept appeared from its very moment of enunciation, and are expressed in a series of tensions (between country/city, barbarism/civilization, tradition/modernity, regionalism/nationalism/globalization) that have shaped not only the political and cultural debate but also the literary creation. This course intends to explore how literature has faced these conflicts and constructed a changing image of “ Latin America” according to the concerns brought about by each historical moment. We will read essays, novels, short stories and poems by a representative group of authors, such as Andrés Bello, Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, Esteban Echeverría, José Asunción Silva, José Martí, José Enrique Rodó, Horacio Quiroga, Mariano Azuela, Jorge Luis Borges, José de la Cuadra, César Vallejo, José María Arguedas, Juan Rulfo, José Lezama Lima, Alejo Carpentier, Gabriel García Márquez, Elena Poniatowska, Alberto Fuguet, Roberto Bolaño, Rita Indiana Fernández, Diamela Eltit, César Aira.

Prerequisite(s): Spanish 219.

Spanish 395-401
Contemporary Spanish and Latin American Theater
Prof. Regueiro
MWF 1:00-2:00

In a series of contemporary plays, the course will study theater as testimony to the social and political changes in Spain and Latin American in the 20th century. From pre- to post-Franco Spain, and from the naturalist drama in the early 20th century to the post-modern experiments in the theater of the absurd in Latin America, we will examine works by Rafael Alberti, José Luis Alonso de Santos, Robert Arlt, Ricardo Halac, Osvaldo Dragún, and others. Prerequisite(s): Spanish 219

Spanish 396-401
Culturas de Fin de Siglo
Prof. Salessi
TR 12:00-1:30

The course will explore the system of cultural appropiation and manipulation practiced by Latin America as it "buys" into capitalism at the end of the nineteenth century.  Special attention will be given to turn-of-the-century topics such as literature and cosmopolitanism, woman as object d'art, the poet as collector and arbiter of fashion, libraries, museums and bric-á-brac, decadence and regeneration, politics and dandysm. Prerequisite(s): Spanish 219.

Spanish 396-402
The Fantastic Body in 20th-Century Hispanic Literature
Prof. Austin
TR 1:30-3:00

This seminar explores the human body as the site and subject of fantasy and violence in 20th-century Spanish American literature.  As body and mind are better understood by the modern scientific community they become increasingly obscure and bizarrely transformed as the literary imagination operates upon them, even further complicating issues of consciousness, self, and gender, among others.  During the semester we will read short stories and novels by writers such as Jorge Luis Borges, Adolfo Bioy Casares, Virgilio Piñera, and Manuel Puig, along with contemporary literary theory.

Prerequisite(s): Spanish 219.

Spanish 396-403
The Detective and Crime Novel in Contemporary Latin American Fiction
Prof. Montoya
MW 2:00-3:30

Born as a sub-genre, crime fiction (a denomination which encompasses a wide number of texts: classical detective stories, hard-boiled, true-crimes and the non investigative crime novel) has become one of the most attractive literary forms for the writers, and one of the favorites for the readers. Because it is built around topics like the crime and the law, the search of the truth and the unstable identity of the subject in mass societies, it has become an ideal vehicle for the expression of the anxieties and fears that dominate the contemporary culture. Its versatility has been used by many Latin-American authors to express the social and political conflicts of the continent, as well as to explore its literary possibilities through formal searches, characterized by parody, meta literary and auto referential games. The aims of this course are, on the one hand, to offer a panoramic vision of the crime fiction in Latin America through the reading of some representative authors: Jorge Luis Borges, Roberto Arlt, Gabriel Garcia Márquez, Ricardo Piglia, Rubem Fonseca, Leonardo Padura Fuentes, Fernando Vallejo; and, on the other, to explore how they can be can be read from different theoretical approaches: post-structuralism, Marxism, post-colonialism and feminism.

Prerequisite(s): Spanish 219.

Spanish 397-401
The “Boom” and Its Aftermath
Prof. Salessi
TR 10:30-12:00

The course will examine novels and short stories published by Latin American writers between 1945 and 1975. While looking at some of the texts that brought Latin American literature to world attention, we will explore themes such as the Spanish American colonial legacy and cultural identity, revolution, democracy and authoritarianism; the reader as writer and the writer as reader; cultural production, the literary market, national and continental politics. Authors will include: Gabriel García Márquez, Juan Rulfo, Jorge Luis Borges, Alejo Carpentier, Manuel Puig, and others.

Prerequisite(s): Spanish 219.

Spanish 400-301
Coloniality in the Americas
Prof. Martínez-San Miguel
MW 3:00-4:30

This advanced seminar will examine three different perspectives in early Latin American writings: ideal vassals, dissident voices and mestizo identities.  The course will explore the complexity of a series of colonial discourses that represent a cultural identity that is neither European or Latin American. Current debates on the “nationalization” of colonial writings will be studied to question the traditional definition of the Colonial writings as the origin of a Latin American identity. The course includes texts by Cristóbal Colón, Fray Ramón Pané, Hernán Cortés, Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, Titu Cusi, the Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora, and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. Secondary readings will include selections from: Rolena Adorno, Edmundo O’Gorman, José Rabasa, Walter Mignolo, Antonio Cornejo Polar, Margarita Zamora, Josefina Ludmer, Jorge Klor de Alva, Stephanie Merrim, Aníbal Quijano, and Albert Memmi, among others.

Course open only to graduating senior majors.

Spanish 400-302
New Mexican Cinema: 1960-1990
Prof. Solomon
TR 10:30-12:00

This senior seminar explores Nuevo cine mexicano, a movement that rose in opposition to Mexico’s declining commercial film industry and in response to the political events leading up to and following the massacre in the La Plaza de las Tres Culturas at Tlatelolco in October of 1968. This seminar begins with an overview of Mexico cinema to 1960, including the influential films Luis Buñuel shot during his exile in Mexico. The reminder of the course will focus on individual filmmakers from the Nuevo Cine movement including Felipe Cazals, (Canoa [1975] , El apando [1975], Las Poquianchis [1976]), Arturo Ripstein (El castillo de la pureza [1972], El lugar sin límites [1977], El imperio de la fortuna [1985]), Jaime Humberto Hermosillo (La pasión según Berenice [1975], Matinée [1976], María de mi corazón [1979]), and Jorge Fons (Rojo amanecer [1989]).

For more information, follow this link to the course website.

Click here to see the course spot video.

Course open only to graduating senior majors.

Spanish 400-303
Modern Spain
Prof. López
TR 3:00-4:30

In this course we study the main events, periods and policies that formed contemporary Spain. In the first half of the course we will study the historical conditions, including a review of the constitutional monarchy (1875-1923) and its dissolution in Primo’s dictatorship (1923-1931), followed by the second Republic and the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). At this stage we will pay special attention to the international pressures that resulted in the defeat of the republic followed by the advent of Franco’s dictatorship. The second part of the course concentrates on the study of Franco’s regime (1939-1975) and the transition to democracy (1979) as well as the consolidation of the monarchy and Spain’s integration into Europe.

Course open only to graduating senior majors.