SPAN 304
This course introduces the principles of literary analysis, based on reading and discussion of Hispanic literary texts. Includes fiction, drama, essay, and poetry from Spain and Spanish America. Taught in Spanish.
Meets MLO 1 & 3
Meets MLO 1 & 3
Reflective Narrative
In SPAN 304, I was able to delve even deeper into Hispanic literature. That interest that aroused with the SPAN 321 and SPAN 425 courses continued to grow by discussing many other literary works, including those from other Latin American countries besides Mexico. Week by week, I learned more about a new country and its culture through the literary products that were created in a certain period of time that sometimes involved dictatorships or wars, all of them very difficult times for the people who lived through those events. Until now, I had not realized how powerful literature can be as a tool for denouncing injustices. With the instruction of Dr. Pablo Oliva, I was able to see beyond the apparent in all the literary works that we analyzed. For example, one of these readings was about the play "Resguardo personal" by Paloma Pedrero, a Spanish writer. As with other works, Dr. Oliva asked us questions about the characters and the various themes that we could find. For that week, I answered the questions analyzing the background of the purpose of the play. Since it is about a discussion between a couple for a neglected love, I realized we can't trust the characters because they didn't let us see their intentions or their past to make sure they weren't lying. In this way, I was able to point out the intention of the author who advocates for communication between couples, since if her characters had been willing to put aside their resentment, perhaps they could have fixed things. One of the things I learned from this course was to improve my ability to analyze poems. Poetry had never been my forte, but thanks to Dr. Oliva's instructions, I realized how easy it is to analyze it part by part, and the infinity of interpretations that we can give it. For my final presentation, I chose to analyze the poem "Sonnet" by José de Espronceda. Together with my team, we were able to present about the context of the poem, its structure, and we identified some tropes that were used throughout the poem. Thanks to this course and this presentation, I appreciate poetry more since I have learned to understand and admire it. In the future, I would like to continue reading poetry, specifically Hispanic poetry, to give it the recognition it deserves.