Early Modern Spanish Lit

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

This course is offers and overview of early modern Spanish literature and is open to graduate students and advanced undergraduates. Students will examine masterpieces of early modern Spain of all genres. Readings will include texts by Garcilaso de la Vega, Teresa de Ávila, Juan de la Cruz, Góngora, Quevedo, Luis de León, Montemayor, María de Zayas, Cervantes, Lope, Tirso Calderón, and Moreto, as well as the anonymous Lazarillo de Tormes. We will explore the burgeoning literary consciousness of the sixteenth century, the importance of Italian models, poetic experimentation, the explosion of mystical writing, the development of the novella and the full-length novel, and the flowering of Spanish theater. We will approach the texts from both literary and cultural perspectives. We will also read pertinent criticism and consider how changing approaches to literature influence how early modern texts are read. Graduate students will write one long paper. Undergraduates will write three 5- to 7-page papers.