Global Arc

Spanish literature and culture from the early Middle Ages to the beginning of the 16th century. Emphasis on both literary works (most read in modernized versions) and original documents. Special attention will be given to medieval Spain's pluralistic society of Christians, Muslims, and Jews. Prerequisite: a 200-level course in Spanish or instructor's permission. Two 90-minute seminars.

Key literary works are analyzed in relation to main cultural, political, and social currents in Spain in the last three centuries. The course combines analysis of specific texts with a panoramic view of the complex articulation of cultural forces that have led to the present configuration of contemporary Spain. Two 90-minute classes. Prerequisite: a 200-level Spanish course or instructor's permission.

This course is connected with the Latino Link volunteer program, which brings together Princeton University students and Latino/a youth attending public schools in the Princeton area. This course will enrich the volunteering students' experiences with readings, discussions, ethnographic projects, and visits from experts and members of the community, with the purpose of reflecting critically on Latino communities and Spanish language in the United States. The course will also provide intensive language practice inside and outside the classroom.

Selected literary forms and themes in relation to the major historical, social, and cultural currents of the Golden Age. Possible topics include the function of the theater in the absolutist state; the Inquisition and the literature of alienation; the impact of the Counter-Reformation on artistic activity; the image of woman in literature. Two 90-minute classes. Prerequisite: a 200-level Spanish course or instructor's permission.

Since 1605, Don Quixote has elicited passionate reactions: Faulkner read it once a year, as some read the Bible, while Malraux saw it as the most meaningful book for survivors of concentration camps. Quixote has been construed in disparate ways, from debating good and bad reading and writing, to mocking the medieval world view; from exploring the serious impact of the printing press, to benevolently satirizing the conquistadors; from being a study of deviant social behavior and the nature of madness, to a meditation on human sexuality and ageing. One lecture, two precepts. Prerequisite: a 200-level Spanish course or equivalent.

An advanced language course which develops and reinforces accuracy and fluency in both writing and speaking Spanish. Students will learn to identify linguistic features that characterize different genres, as well as social and cultural factors that aid in the interpretation and understanding of different texts and types of speech. The course also aims at providing the tools for discourse analysis, raising awareness of the social and ideological values that permeate discursive practices, and developing autonomy and proficiency as an advanced learner of Spanish language. Three classes. Prerequisite: One 200-level SPA course.

An introduction to the study and practice of translation, this course provides students with an awareness of the complex tasks involved in translating written materials from one cultural context to another. The cultural encounter between the Hispanic and the Anglo-Saxon will be explored through the translation of increasingly difficult texts--newspaper articles, interviews, economic reports, and scientific articles. Through the examination of the students' own translations, the course will study the process of cultural exchange between Spanish and English. Prerequisite: 307. One three-hour seminar.

A four-week intensive summer language course taught in Toledo, Spain. This course examines in detail the work of six masters of Spanish painting (El Greco, Velázquez, Goya, Picasso, Dalí y Miró) in the social, historical and artistic context in which they worked. The course has two integrated components. The first focuses on discussions of the paintings themselves; the second offers complementary information about social and cultural issues, while also providing support and feedback for the writing assignments of the first component. Visits to artistic sites in Toledo and the El Prado museum will be an important part of the course.

A survey of the major forms of Spanish drama of the Golden Age, including plays by Lope de Vega, Tirso de Molina, and Calderón. Emphasis on the development of the theater in relation to the rise of the absolutist state, the Counter-Reformation, and the impact of the Inquisition on Spanish society. Prerequisite: a 200-level Spanish course. Two 90-minute classes.

Bodies of evidence, bodies of knowledge, the body politic, bodies-inviolate to mutilated, saintly to criminal-are figured in Medieval and Early Modern literature and objects in ways that reveal not only cultural paradigms, myths, and obsessions, but also some widely divergent realities. Notions of the body and its cultural inscription involve the history of marginal social groups, the history of the senses, of sexuality and gender. The relations between bodily and cognitive systems will form the basis for our analyses and discussions of such texts and authors.