Module Identifier SP25120  
Module Title NARRATIVES OF SPAIN  
Academic Year 2007/2008  
Co-ordinator Dr Jose M Goni Perez  
Semester Semester 2  
Pre-Requisite SP10740 or SP19930  
Course delivery Lecture   20 hours  
Assessment
Assessment TypeAssessment Length/DetailsProportion
Semester Exam2 Hours written exam  60%
Semester Assessment 1 X 1000 word essay  30%
Semester Assessment Seminar debates + others  10%
Supplementary Exam 1 x 2 hour examination if continuous assessment submitted. 1 x 3 hour examination if no continuous assessment submitted100%

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
1. Have an improved knowledge and understanding of the literature and culture of the second half of 20th Century Spain;
2. Enter critical debates concerning the works considered in the course;
3. Have an awareness of the impact of the works in the development of Spanish literature;
4. Show familiarity with the key methods and critical tools employed by scholars to study modern Spanish literature;
5. Be acquainted with the reuse of literary genres and the development of current Spanish novel;
6. Engage critically with a wide variety of scholarly material including monographs and specialised articles;
7. Present their findings in a logical, organised and scholarly fashion both orally - through debates and presentations - and in written form - through essays and text commentaries.
8. Compare texts and analyse the differences and parallels between them.

Aims

This module provides an understanding of the different intellectual and narrative responses of those writers who actively expressed their social visions during Franco's regime and those who faced the intellectual challenges emerged with the establishment of the Democracy in Spain. The study of different passages taken from intellectual essays and five main literary pieces of the second half of the 20th century will provide a foundation to analyse critically the new insights of Spanish narratives.

Brief description

This module will deal with the intellectual debate created by the political and social insights expressed by two groups of writers. The three aims of this module are:
i)   to analyse critically a literary text (immanent analysis),
ii) to comment critically on the use of language in literature,
iii) to be able to interpret historically and socially a literary text (transcendent analysis).

Content

This course has three different topics:
i)   1944-1975: 'Representations of Franco's Spain' through key literary texts. Understanding wider social movements.
ii) 1975-2005: The novel of democracy: broken themes and broken minds. Reading 'Neoposmodernismo'. Key texts.
iii) 1975-2005: Spaces and times: the anti 'hortus conclusus' and the cityscape. Key texts.

Module Skills

Problem solving Students face analytical problems which arise when analysing the content and linguistic elements of the selected literary texts.  
Research skills Students will be required to compare, analyse and select various research materials (primary and secondary).  
Communication Students will be expected to use linguistic and literary terminology in seminars and to write at an appropriate level for assignments.  
Improving own Learning and Performance Students will be able to observe the improvement in their own competence by critically and linguistically analysing literary and essay texts, both in the seminars and in the written essay.  
Team work Students will be expected to work in groups during seminars and critically to debate and discuss questions raised during the seminars.  
Information Technology Students will be expected to use on-line articles and to learn how not to use some unreliable sources. The students are expected rapidly to adapt to using the Real Academía Española dictionaries and its on-line linguistic resources. Students also need to use the official on-line archive of Spanish literature.  
Application of Number n/a  
Personal Development and Career planning The students will be able to gain skills in analysing and commenting on the stylistic features in 'poiesis' which will help them to develop their linguistic competence.  
Subject Specific Skills Linguistic competence, critical literary analysis and intertextuality.  

Reading Lists

Books
** Recommended Text
Insula-Revista de Letras y Ciencias humanas Vol. 54, no. 634.
África Vidal, Mo. Carmen (1989) ¿Qué es posmodernismo? Alicante, Universidad de Alicante
Amell, S (1996) The Contemporary Spanish Novel. An Annotated Critical Bibliography 1936-1994 Greenwood Press, Westport, Connecticut; London
Chambers, Ross (1984) Story and situation: Narrative Seduction and the Power of Fiction Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press
Chatman, Seymour (1978) Story and Discourse: Narrative Structure in Fiction and Film Ithaca, Cornell University Press
Martínez Cachero, J. Ma. (1997) La novela española entre 1936 y el fin de siglo Madrid, Castalia
Moreiro, Julián (1996) Cómo leet textos literarios. El equipaje del lector. Madrid, EDAF
Navajas, Gónzalo (1996) Más allá de la Postmodernidad Barcelona
Navajas, Gónzalo (1987) Teoría y práctica de la novela española posmoderna Barcelona, Ediciones de Mall
Pico, Josep (1988) Modernidad y posmodernidad Madrid, Alianza
Smyth, Edmund J. (1991) Postmodernism and Contemporary Fiction London, B.T. Batsford Ltd.
Tono Martínez, José (1986) La polémica de la posmodernidad Madrid, Ediciones Libertarias
Umbral, Francisco (1987) Guía de la posmodernidad Madrid, Ediciones Temas de Hoy
Villanueva, Darío y otros (1992) Los nuevos nombres, 1975-1990 Barcelona, Crítica

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 5