The Art of Telling, Writing and Representing History in Medieval and Early Modern Spain

3 units

This course will be devoted to analyze a selection of texts produced in the Iberian Peninsula during the middle ages and the early modern period, whose principal subjects are the History and legends of the region that became, eventually, the kindom of Castile. This will be our point of departure to better understand the uses of the past, as it becomes part of a text, and goes through the unavoidable process of fictionalization. We will study, for example, the ever problematic relations between the nobility and the monarchy and the uses of History as a source of exemplary matter, as inspiration to help create and reinforce social identity, and as a way to overcome censorship. With the objective of acquiring a better understanding of the uses of the past as a strategy to comment, explain and try to modify the present moment, and given the popularity that the historical novel has acquired in Spain in recent years, especially after the transition to democracy, our reading list will also include a few examples of these types of texts. For their final projects, the students will be asked to work in a synchronic and comparative way, with various representations of a legend, a character, or a historical event of their choice. In Spanish.