Unit information: Novels, Poetry and Politics in Twentieth Century Latin America in 2016/17

Unit name	Novels, Poetry and Politics in Twentieth Century Latin America
Unit code	HISP20077
Credit points	20
Level of study	I/5
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12)
Unit director	Professor. Jo Crow
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	None
School/department	Department of Hispanic, Portuguese and Latin American Studies
Faculty	Faculty of Arts

Description including Unit Aims

This unit introduces students to three of Latin America's most well known writers: Pablo Neruda, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Mario Vargas Llosa. It involves in-depth study of their texts, supplemented by analysis of different reader responses. Exploring a wide range of themes, including memory, colonial ideology, socialist revolution and violence, the unit encourages students to think about the relationship between literature and the historical and social context from which it emerges. It raises important questions about literature as political communication. Can there be such a thing as a "socialist novel", for example? Do the fantastic aspects of a text undermine or enhance its serious intent? Students will also disuss some of the key aesthetic issues relevant to the poetry and the novels.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Successful students will:

1. be knowledgeable about a significant cultural, historical or linguistic subject related to the language they are studying;
2. be skilled in the selection and synthesis of relevant material;
3. be able to evaluate and analyse relevant material from a significant body of source materials, usually in a foreign language, at a high level;
4. be able to respond to questions or problems by presenting their independent judgements in an appropriate style and at an high level of complexity;
5. be able to transfer these skills to other working environments, including study at a foreign university and on work placements during the year abroad.

Teaching Information

1 weekly lecture hour and one weekly seminar hour

Assessment Information

1 x 2000 word essay (50%) and a 2 hour exam (50%) Testing ILO's 1-5

Reading and References

• César Vallejo, Poemas humanos
• Octavio Paz, El laberinto de la soledad
• Mario Vargas Llosa, La historia de Mayta and El hablador
• Diamela Eltit, Lumpérica
• Subcomandante Marcos , Our Word is our Weapon