Topics in Latin American Culture

This module is taught by Dr Steven Boldy, Dr Geoffrey Kantaris, Dr Joanna Page and Ms Erica Segre

Go to the module website for more information and resources

This module provides the opportunity to study the work of major Spanish American writers of the twentieth century and to engage with a number of important topics and debates in Latin American culture. A good reading knowledge of Spanish is a prerequisite for the course, since all texts, some of them very complex, are read in Spanish.

The first term course aims to provide a solid grounding in Latin American narrative (and poetry, if students wish) with seminars on major writers such as Juan Rulfo, Octavio Paz, Gabriel García Márquez, Rosario Castellanos, Alejo Carpentier, Mario Vargas Llosa, Julio Cortázar, Jorge Luis Borges and Carlos Fuentes.

The second term's work is more comparative and thematic in approach. Topics to be studied may include:

• urban modernity (Argentina/Mexico - literature
• popular culture (Argentina/Peru/Cuba - literature and cinema)
• the Popol Vuh and literature about 'race'
• gender and writing (Mexico - narrative and poetry)
• literature of the Latin American 'Boom'
• Mexican women's painting
• historical fiction under postmodernity
• women's writing and dictatorship (Argentina, Uruguay)
• the short story in Latin America
• globalization and cultural hybridity (the McOndo narratives)

Teaching takes the form of open-discussion seminars at which students are expected to present short papers. Students are also encouraged to attend lectures on Latin American literature given by the Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages.