Module Information
Course Delivery
Assessment
| Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Semester Assessment | Continuous assessment 2 x 2000 word essays (equally weighted) | 80% |
| Semester Assessment | Seminar debates, performance and participation | 20% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Supplementary Assessment Resubmit or resit failed elements and/or make good any missing elements | 100% |
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
Demonstrate a knowledge and critical understanding of the set texts;
Locate the set texts in some of the contexts of their production;
Explain and engage with relevant aspects of recent critical debates about the material studied;
Produce well organized, coherently argued and critically informed written work;
Engage in coherent oral discussion of the material studied.
Brief description
This module explores some of the contradictions and anxieties of late nineteenth-century Spanish literature. The students will analyze essays, articles and letters from the period that responded to a particular inquietude caused by social changes, political instability and the last vestiges of the Spanish Empire. The texts studied will present some of the most famous characters and places in Spanish culture, which are representative of developments in Spanish literature of the time. Students will be made aware of the importance of both immanent and transcendent analysis. Some of the authors read in this module are Caballero, Alarcon, Valera, Pereda, Galdos, Clarin, Bazan, Valdes, Blasco Ibanez.
Aims
It provides an understanding of key texts in their historical context and of their impact on the development of literature. It introduces students to the study of language and stylistic features in late nineteenth-century literature and the specific skills associated with it. It also allows students to map Spanish Literature within European cultural movements, such as the rise of the social problem novel, the relationship between religion, philosophy and realism, and the ways in which the novel responded to the problem of God and Woman towards the end of the century.
Content
1. Introduction: Spain and the social difficulties of late nineteenth century
2. Literature and society: the Realist vision
3. 'Dios y la mujer' in the late 19th century novel
4. 'La novela de tesis' and nature
5. Locus, space and broken habitats
Module Skills
| Skills Type | Skills details |
|---|---|
| Co-ordinating with others | Each student must present a topic to explain one of the key concepts of the course. This fosters teamwork where everyone benefits from each other’s work. |
| Communication | Students develop their communication skills both in writing (essay writing and draft essays) and orally (discussions/presentations/seminar debates) |
| Improving own Learning and Performance | Each student is responsible for formulating their own essay questions based on the critical approaches of the course, as well as for developing the presentation topic from an original and innovative point of view. |
| Information Technology | Students must use digital repositories on 19th-century Spanish literature and history, as well as digital newspapers. |
| Personal Development and Career planning | Development of written and oral communication skills; the development of critical-ideological analysis of the texts studied, beyond what is accepted by contemporary criticism. |
| Problem solving | Students must solve multiple analytical and linguistic problems related to the nineteenth-century theories studied, as well as learning to differentiate between what is and is not relevant. |
| Research skills | Students must delve into the extensive bibliography provided in the course in order to select what they consider to be the most relevant critical apparatus. |
| Subject Specific Skills | Students must study the specific linguistic uses of nineteenth-century and turn-of-the-century Spanish. |
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 6