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Academic Year 2004/2005

The Uses of the Past: Literature and History in Latin America
SPAN 260 FA

This course aims to examine literary representations of major Latin American political and social events. Focusing on watershed developments such as the Wars of Independence, the Mexican Revolution, and the establishment of dictatorial regimes from 1930s on, we will analyze the ways in which these key events have informed a series of 20th century texts, as well as the role played by fiction in recreating, counteracting and questioning official historical narrations. By doing so, this class will explore the complex interactions between language and reality, the place of fiction in the construction of “truth,” and the symbolic strategies developed by canonical intellectuals in order to resist self-legitimating historical discourses and present alternative versions of the past.

MAJOR READINGS

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

COURSE FORMAT: Lecture/Discussion

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UGRD    Credit: 1    Gen Ed Area Dept: HA LAST    Grading Mode: Graded   

Prerequisites: NONE Links to Web Resources For This Course.

Last Updated on MAR-21-2005

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