SP LA Literature:听Present Pasts, Pasts Present: Reflections on Literature and History in Latin American writing
Course convenors:听听Dr Rory O鈥橞ryen听(rro20@cam.ac.uk), Section of Spanish & Portuguese
In this course, we look at foundational issues surrounding identity, power, history and representation as they are addressed and reworked over time within key literary genres in Latin American writing. Each session takes two texts broadly pertaining to a single 鈥榞enre鈥� (in 2024 these will be: the colonial chronicle, the slave (auto-)biography, the national romance, indigenismo in its written and visual articulation, the diary, and the urban chronicle), and focuses on the transhistorical dialogue established between them as they engage with significant moments in Latin American history (conquest, nation- and state-formation, abolition, revolution and urbanization). This pairing of contemporary and historical narratives 鈥� from the late twentieth century and from the colonial and Independence periods 鈥� invites multi-faceted reflection on the changing relationship between literature and history over time and aims to build up a systematic interrogation of the fetish of 鈥榯he contemporary鈥� that determines much current literary inquiry. The primary texts covered in 2024 will be:
1.听听 听The colonial chronicle: 脕lvar N煤帽ez Cabeza de Vaca, Naufragios (1555) and Juan Jos茅 Saer, El entenado (1983). 听(Rory O鈥橞ryen / Stephanie Rohner)听 2.听听 听The slave (auto)biography: Francisco Manzano, Autobiograf铆a de un esclavo (1835/1840), and Miguel Barnet, Biograf铆a de un cimarr贸n (1966). (Rory O鈥橞ryen / Carlos Fonseca)听 3.听听 听Worlding the national romance: excerpts from Jorge Isaacs, Mar铆a (1867) and Adelaida Fern谩ndez Ochoa, Afuera crece un mundo (2018). (Rory O鈥橞ryen / Liesbeth Fran莽ois) 4.听听 听Indigenismo: Clorinda Matto de Turner, Aves sin nido (1889) and photographs by Mart铆n Chambi (Stephanie Rohner / Rory O鈥橞ryen)听 5.听听 听The Diary: excerpts from Jos茅 Mar铆a Arguedas, El zorro de arriba y el zorro de abajo (1971), and Ricardo Piglia, Los diarios de Emilio Renzi: A帽os de de Formaci贸n (2015) (Carlos Fonseca/Rory O鈥橞ryen)听 6.听听 听The urban chronicle: Manuel Guti茅rrez N谩jera, selected cr贸nicas and Carlos Monsiv谩is, Los rituales del caos (Liesbeth Fran莽ois/ Rory O鈥橞ryen)
Student papers: please keep these between 10 and 15 minutes if possible, so as to guarantee lots of time for group discussion.
Preliminary Reading Students must read *all* of the primary texts before attending seminars.听 Good introductory works for those who do not have a foundation in Latin American literature include Jean Franco鈥檚 Introduction to Latin American Literature (1969), Angel Rama鈥檚 La ciudad letrada (1984), Gerald Martin鈥檚 Journeys Through the Labyrinth (1989), and Doris Sommer, Foundational Fictions: The National Romances of Latin America (1991).
Secondary readings will be provided in advance of the seminars.
