SPAN1900 - Introduction to Literary Analysis

By helping students develop skills to carefully read and analyze Spanish literary works, Spanish 1900 prepares them for upper-level courses and study abroad. After reviewing the main elements and conventions of the most popular genres (narrative, poetry, theater and essay), students become familiarized with current theoretical approaches to the study of literature with the purpose of applying them to their own analytical writing. The last weeks of the semester are devoted to the reading of a well-crafted detective novel and the examination of both its formal features and its ideological underpinnings. Throughout the course, students will have ample opportunities to hone their skills through the close reading and class discussion of varied and stimulating literary works produced by canonical and non-canonical Hispanic authors.