SPAN 321
Course Description: Reading and discussion of selected masterworks of literature as they reflect the historical, political, and social context of the Peninsular Spanish experience. Students will be introduced to reading and writing critically, and discussing both form and content within these works. All discussions will be carried out in Spanish. Taught in Spanish.
Meets MLO 1 & 3
Meets MLO 1 & 3
Reflective Narrative
In SPAN 321, my knowledge of Spanish literature expanded from only recognizing the title of Don Quijote de la Mancha to being able to see beyond the words and understand the relevance of outstanding pieces of literature from Spain. The literature classes I’ve taken in CSUMB have been my favorites, and this class was not an exception. Each week, I analyzed a text belonging to a specific period in time, starting from the medieval era, with El Cantar del Mio Cid, all the way to the 20th century, and the social poetry product of Franco's dictatorship. Dr. David Vila Dieguez had only one question for us at the beginning of the class, “what did you like about it?” From there, he would let us take the lead of the discussion, hearing what we had to say, so he could help us elaborate our thoughts by adding more context or making connections to previous works. That way, I was capable of writing deep reflections with all the information I gathered by the end of the week. For my presentation, I had to choose to speak about something we did not cover in class. I noticed when we discussed romanticism that one writer was only mentioned as part of the artistic movement. So I decided to do my presentation about Gertrudis G. de Avellaneda, because she was considered a pioneer of modern feminism and the first person to write an antislavery novel. My research on her, our discussions, and reflections, taught me some of the social issues that the writers of each period of time faced are still very present to this day. Her works continue to be relevant and inspire new generations. By the end of the semester, I was able to use the critical thinking skills I gained in this class to write an essay analyzing two theater plays that I liked because of the strong message they send. In my Hispanic Literature Essay, I compared the family dynamics of El Sí de las Niñas and La Casa de Bernarda Alba to demonstrate the importance of free thinking for the proper development of adolescents. In the future, I would like to continue analyzing classics of Hispanic literature as well as more contemporary novels, since in the past it did not attract my attention, but thanks to this course I was able to explore genres and topics that I had not read before such as theater plays. I would also like to expand this world of culture to other people.