SPAN 425
Course Description: Exposes students to Mexican literature from its indigenous and Hispanic origins to its more contemporary expressions. Examines and discusses representative authors from all literary periods, including such literary icons as Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, Manuel Gutierrez Najera, Mariano Azuela, Ignacio Altamirano, Rosario Castellanos, Juan Rulfo, Octavio Paz, Carlos Fuentes, Jose Agustin, and Laura Esquivel. Taught in Spanish.
Meets MLO 3
Meets MLO 3
Reflective Narrative
In SPAN 425, I immersed myself in a world of literature that I had not explored before. Although I grew up in Mexico, I had never read a book written by a Mexican author. Until then, I had sinned by only reading foreign products. I boasted of being a book lover. However, I did not recognize the literary richness coming from my own culture. Dr. Carolyn González made sure this would not happen again in the future. Throughout the semester, I read poems, short stories, and novels from renowned Mexican writers, as well as additional resources that helped me understand the sociopolitical context in which they were written. I could later discuss in class what I liked and found interesting, in addition to making connections with other readings and reflecting on the impact those literary works had and still have today. Some of these readings impacted me deeply, as I analyzed their content with the help of history. Through them, I understood that literature can be used as a denunciation tool to amplify the voices of people who were or are victims of injustice. In the novels Pedro Páramo, Como agua para chocolate, and Nadie me verá llorar, the themes that I studied were machismo, violence, prostitution and the various expressions of sexuality. The reflections I wrote from the study of these novels changed my perspectives on these issues and increased my curiosity to read more books by Mexican authors, especially those written by women. For this reason, for my final essay, I chose a contemporary Mexican author, Fernanda Melchor, famous for her peculiar writing style. Her book Hurricane Season, impressed me because of the crude way of narrating the worst situations that are experienced in Mexico: violence, abuse, addictions, etc. I had never come across such a brutal novel before, and I was fascinated by Melchor's style, which inspired me to write about a possible escape from discrimination against women and the LGBTQ+ collective through the secularization of Mexican society. This essay became one of the works of which I feel most proud due to the dedication and effort with which I made it. That is why I was able to make my presentation on this essay with great success, since I had all the necessary preparation to speak about my topic. Overall, this class made me appreciate the artistic content that comes from my home country. Therefore, in the future, I will seek to support novels written by Hispanic/Latinx authors as much as possible, so that more people can find the cultural richness that we have.