Courses

1301-1302. First Year Spanish I and II. In these foundation courses, students acquire a basic vocabulary and an understanding of the fundamental structures of Spanish as they develop their skills in reading, writing, listening and speaking. At the same time, students are introduced to the cultures of the Spanish-speaking peoples of the world. 1301 is offered in the Fall semester only. 1302 is offered in both Fall and spring.

2311. Second Year Spanish I. The aims of this course are to enable students to communicate intelligibly, both orally and in writing, on a variety of subjects, and to introduce them to the values of short modern works of literature from Spain and Hispano-America. Fall and Spring.

2312. Second Year Spanish II. This course aims to give students an appreciation and informed knowledge of the heritage of the Spanish-speaking world through a panoramic overview of the history, literature and arts of Spain from prehistoric times up to the present day. Modern Spanish America is also briefly studied, from the time of Columbus, as the amalgam of Hispanic and indigenous cultures. Fall and Spring.

3119. Spanish Internship. 3120. Studio Drama. These two one-credit courses are graded pass/fail, and are offered occasionally.

3317. Peninsular Spanish Literary Tradition. An overview of Peninsular Spanish literature from the Middle Ages to the present. Students are introduced to literary forms, genres, and movements, as well as to major themes in Spanish literature. They read short original texts. Required of majors and strongly recommended for concentrators. Every Fall.

3318. Spanish American Literary Tradition. Selection of representative works of Spanish American literature from the Pre-Columbian period to the late twentieth century. Literary works are placed in their historical and artistic context. Students continue the study begun in Peninsular Spanish Literary Tradition of forms, genres, and movements. Required of majors and strongly recommended for concentrators. Every Spring.

3322. Civilization of Mexico. A one-semester course that offers the student a panoramic view of Mexican history as well as art and architecture from the Pre-Columbian age through the Mexican Revolution.

3323. Advanced Spanish Communication/Grammar. This course primarily focuses on increasing students' oral proficiency through an examination of the nature of communication across time and across cultures. Film, music, visual arts, and literature provide material for discussion, engaging students on a variety of levels. Grammar review. Every Spring.

3324. Advanced Spanish Composition/Grammar. This course is designed to develop a sense of style and structure in writing of Spanish on various levels. This goal is achieved through close reading and detailed analysis of modem Spanish and Spanish-American authors in both literary and journalistic fields, in conjunction with intensive practice in the art of writing for specific and varying purposes. Required for majors. Fall, odd numbered years. Grammar review. Every Fall.

3328. Spanish Linguistics. This course explores the different theoretical approaches to the study of language and the various answers they give to the basic questions: what is language and how do people use it? The course also includes an overview of the history of the Spanish language as well as a description of its contemporary phonology, morphology, syntax, and sociolinguistic variations. Additionally, Introduction to Spanish Linguistics helps prospective Spanish teachers articulate Spanish grammar clearly and thoroughly. The course is designed for Spanish majors, but is open to all students.

3329. Introduction to Spanish and Mexican Art History. This course has four objectives: to introduce students to the main artistic styles throughout two thousand years in Spain and Mexico, to familiarize them with some of the most outstanding buildings, sculptures, and paintings in both countries, to show them the unity and the diversity of artistic expression within the Hispanic world, and to teach them artistic terminology in Spanish. The first half of the semester is dedicated to the Iberian Peninsula and the second half to Mexico.

4301. Spanish Medieval History. A survey of Spanish History from the establishment of the Visigothic Monarchy through the reign of the Catholic Monarchs. Emphasis on the development of Spain's national character and sense of purpose during the Reconquest. The course also concentrates on the cultural achievements of the thirteenth century; surveys Aragon' s expansion throughout the lands of the Mediterranean in the late Middle Ages; and studies the unification of the four Spanish kingdoms by Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabel I of Castile. Readings from medieval documents.

4302. Spanish Medieval Literature. A study of lyric and epic poetry as well as early Spanish prose. Poetry read includes examples of jarchas, moaxajas, villancicos, and ballads. Emphasis is placed on the Cantar de mio Cid (Spain's national epic poem) and King Alphonse X's Cantigas de Santa Maria. Prose works include the Archpriest of Hita's Libro de buen amor, Los cuentos del Conde Lucanor, by Infante Don Juan Manuel, and La Celestina, written in the late fifteenth century by Fernando de Rojas.

4311. History of Habsburg Spain: The Golden Age. Spanish history in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Emphasis on the greater Habsburgs of the Renaissance, Emperor Charles V and Philip II. Topics include imperial expansion in the New World, defense of Christendom against Islam, Spain's participation in religious conflicts and national rivalries throughout Europe, cultural achievements during the Siglo de Oro, political and economic decline under the lesser Habsburgs of the seventeenth century and the national sense of purpose inherited from the Reconquest.

4312. Golden Age Peninsular/Colonial Drama and Poetry. Renaissance and baroque drama and poetry in Spain and Latin America. Dramatists studied are Lope de Vega, Juan Ruiz de Alarcon, Tirso de Molina, and Pedro Calderon de la Barca. Poets include Garcilaso de la Vega, Alonso de Ercilla, Fray Luis de Leon, Francisco de Quevedo, Luis de Gongora, as well as the Carmeline mystics St. Theresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross.

4313. Golden Age Peninsular/Colonial Narrative. A study of both Peninsular and Colonial narrative during the Golden Age, including El Lazarillo de Tormes, Cervantes's La Galatea, and works by Christopher Columbus, Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, El Inca Garcilaso, St. Theresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, and Francisco de Quevedo.

4314. Cervantes: Don Quijote and Novelas ejemplares.  A close reading of Cervantes's masterpiece, Don Quijote. Students examine Don Quijote's relationship to the development of prose fiction (books of chivalry, pastoral romance, and the picaresque novels of the sixteenth century) as well as its impact on Spanish literature and the European novel in general. The course also includes some of Cervantes's short Novelas ejemplares.

4342. History of Bourbon Spain: The Age of Revolution. A study of Spanish history during the two hundred and thirty years of Bourbon rule, from 1700 to 1931. Includes discussion of the loss of Spain's Empire in Europe, the administrative and economic reforms of the Enlightenment, the great international conflicts of the eighteenth century, the Peninsular War against Napoleon, the loss of Spain' s Empire in America, the fall of the Old Regime, the political instability of the nineteenth century, and the conflicts that led to the Spanish Civil War of the 1930's. One of the main topics considered throughout the course is the question of the "two Spains."

4343. Nineteenth-century Peninsular Spanish Literature. Spanish poetry, drama, and prose throughout the nineteenth century. The first half of the course focuses on Romanticism as well as on costumbrista and historical novels. Writers studied include: Mariano de Larra, Jose Zorrilla, the Duke of Rivas, Jose de Espronceda, and Gustavo Adolfo Becquer. The second half is dedicated to the Realist and naturalist novel. Special attention is given to works by Fernan Caballero (Cecilia Boel de Faber), Pedro Antonio de Alarcon, Benito Perez Galdos, Clarin (Leopoldo Alas), Emilia Pardo Bazan, and Blasco Ibanez.

4361. Early Twentieth-century Peninsular Spanish Literature. The main literary trends in the first decades of the twentieth century. Study includes works by writers from the Generation of 98, such as Miguel de Unamuno, Antonio Machado, Ramon del Valle Inclan, and Azorin (Jose Martinez Ruiz). The course also looks at Spanish vanguardismo of the 1920s and poets from the Generation of 27, including Pedro Salinas, Federico Garcia Lorca, Jorge Guillen, Rafael Alberti, Luis Cernuda, and Gerardo Diego.

4362. Contemporary Peninsular Spanish Literature. A study of the most important works of Spanish literature since the Civil War (1939). Authors studied are leading dramatists (Antonio Buero Vallejo and Alejandro Casona) and major novelists (such as Camilo Jose Cela, Carmen Laforet, Miguel Delibes, Anba Maria Matute, and Carmen Martin Gaite).

4371. Twentieth-century Spanish American Novels. A close analysis of the Spanish American novel of the twentieth century. Authors studied are chosen from the following: Maria Luisa Bombal, Adolfo Bioy Casares, Miguel Angel Asturias, Alejo Carpentier, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

4372. Spanish American Poetry: From Modernismo to the Present. An examination of more than a century of Spanish American poetry. Authors usually include: Jose Marti, Manuel Gutierrez Najera, Ruben Dario, Gabriela Mistral, Alfonsina Storni, Juana de Ibarbourou, Vicente Huidobro, Cesar Vallejo, Pablo Neruda, Octavio Paz, and Jaime Sabines.

4373. Spanish American Short Story. A selection of the best Spanish American stories since the late nineteenth century. Authors studied are chosen from the following: Ruben Dario, Baldomero Lillo, Horacio Quiroga, Jorge Luis Borges, Juan Rulfo, Julio Cortazar, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

4374. Mexican Literature. This course includes a study of the interplay between literature and the arts in Mexico since the late nineteenth century. Some attention is given to the influence of the Mexican Revolution. Authors read are chosen from the following: Jose Ruben Romero, Gregorio Lopez y Fuentes, Mariano Azuela, Alfonso Reyes, Agustin Yanez, Juan Rulfo, Juan Jose Arreolo, Octavio Paz, Elena Garro, and Carlos Fuentes.

4375. Highlights of Spanish American Narrative. 4376. Realism in Spanish and English Nineteenth-century Narrative. Two courses taught in ENGLISH and offered when needed.

4347. Senior Project. Majors write a twenty-five to thirty page research paper in Spanish in literature, history, art history , or linguistics. Usually in the Spring.

4349. Senior Honors Thesis. Majors may write a fifty-page research paper, in Spanish, in literature, history, art history or linguistics as one of their ten courses. By invitation of the Spanish faculty. The thesis includes a defense open to the public. Fall.

5V50. Special Topic in Spanish.