Prereq: FSH placement, SPA 204, or permission of the instructor
This seminar explores Miguel de Cervantes Don Quijote (1605, 1615) through a critical reading of the impact books produce in the community of readers in early Modern Spain. Don Quijote’s lofty ideals of freedom, equality and inclusiveness are the product of his mis-readings of chilvalric novels. This irony guides both volumes of Cervantes’s masterpiece as he invites his readership to reflect on the power of books to transform lives, the crossings between reality and fiction, and the pleasure of reading. Throught the semester we will delve into the paradoxes and epiphanies that equip readers to go beyond the established parameters related to reading practices. We will also identify how humor is key to challenging most official expectations in a historical time in which every literary text is under the censorship and vigilance of the Spanish Inquisition.
Students must have completed SPA 204 to enroll in this class or have a placement of FSH in Spanish or have permission of the instructors. The class will be entirely in Spanish.