Prereq: FSH placement, SPA 204, or permission of the instructor
Cuerpos ensangrentados, almas en pena: afectos, política y cultura en el Siglo de Oro español
(Bloodied bodies, souls in pain: affects, politics and culture in the Spanish Golden Age)
The biological construct of pureza de sangre has unequivocally conditioned all genres within early- modern Spanish literature. However, the literature of the so-called Spanish Golden Age is also known for its vibrancy in dismantling the essentialist perspectives endorsed by the Spanish Inquisition. This seminar explores the tensions between bloodied bodies and troubled souls in challenging the totalizing poetics of the Spanish empire. The socio-political burdens of a system ruled by statutes based on purity of blood, ethnic homogeneity, and spiritual orthodoxy is systematically confronted by a proliferation of marginal subjectivities and desires. Women dressed as men, men dressed as women, adulteress women, gypsies, liars, knight errants, cristianos nuevos, slaves, delinquents, hymen-menders, mystics, and homoerotic lovers, among others, convulse the ideological foundations built upon a monotonous dialectic of good/evil. The violence inflicted unto these bodies inflame the unspoken paradoxes of the time, challenging, reversing, and reinventing (if only, momentarily,) the traditional narratives legitimized by the Castilian identity. As a site where new definitions and sensibilities are negotiated, these bodies disassemble the exclusionary practices that privilege Christian white, male, aristocratic subjects. These bodies become potential catalysts for change, eroding the sanctity of the established paradigms by unleashing a productive intersectionality between affects, politics, and culture. In the seminar, we will reflect on how the past helps contemporary readers to envision a new, more inclusive society. Similarly, we will examine how the present grants us readers a privileged position to examine the past while also helping us identify our blind spots and biases when dealing with exclusionary politics. Readings include plays, short novels, and poetry by authors like Lope de Vega, Alarcón, Cervantes, San Juan de la Cruz, María de Zayas and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.
This seminar is open to students with a high proficiency in Spanish that wish to deepen their conversational and writing skills in the language. Readings of both canonical and non-canonical texts will be provided in class. The course is open to students that love Spanish literature but may not have the opportunity to delve in the language critically given the curricular demands in their majors. It is also open to majors and minors in Spanish since all the work is to be produced in Spanish.