HISPANIC AMERICAN LITERATURE 1/1

The course is part of the Americas "Comparative International Relations (RIC)" degree course and mutual with the course of study in "European, American and Postcolonial Languages and Literatures (LLEAP)" and with the course in "Language Sciences".
The course aims to deepen knowledges of cultural issues and dynamics characterizing Hispanic American territories, using the supra-national and supra-cultural category of myth (african, classical and indigenous one) as a privileged hermeneutic instrument of investigation.
Objectives of the course are: to deepen the specific knowledge of cultural problems of the Hispanic American subcontinent; provide methodological tools aimed at the analysis of the most significant Hispanic American literary productions of 20th and 21st centuries intended, on the one hand, as cultural documents and, on the other, as aesthetic creations; develop reflection skills on the literary texts proposed, recognizing in them the use and construction of structures derived from fairy tales, as well as the dynamics of symbolic and cultural deconstruction and (re) semantization connected to them.

1. Knowledge and understanding:
a. knowledge of notions of literary theory and narratology, as well as the theoretical foundations of mythocriticism and the most important studies on myth from an interdisciplinary perspective.
b. knowledge in the historical-literary field: textual statuses of the texts analyzed in relation to the historical-social context of production.
b. develop the technological, terminological and documentation tools to be able to interpret literary texts from a cultural, narratological and mythocritical point of view.

2. Applied knowledge and understanding:
a. apply the knowledge acquired to the texts selected among the most important expressions of 20th century Hispanic America, ability to analyze and comment on the texts from a cultural and literary-critical point of view in their original elaboration in Spanish, as well as identifying cultural issues and problems.
b. ability to analyze and compare texts and to elaborate conceptual syntheses;
c. ability to place a text and a literary phenomenon in their context of production and reception.

3. Autonomy of judgment: strengthen the exercise of critical thinking and the ability to formulate autonomous hypotheses and judgments argued in a coherent and effective manner, also through the development of a thesis on a topic of your choice.

4. Communication skills: development of communication skills aimed at a coherent, clear, terminologically precise and effective exposition, both in oral interaction in class on topics related to the course and in academic written discourse (development of a thesis).

5. Learning ability: ability to infer, relate data, summarize, organize the coherent and autonomous analysis of a text and/or a literary process.

Students must have an adequate level of written and oral Spanish (level B2), which allows them to read and understand the texts proposed in the original language and develop independent reflections and interventions, as well as adequate language skills in Italian language.

Rewritings of Myth in Hispanic-American Literatures: Identity and Culture between Construction and Deconstruction.

The course aims to provide an overview of the cultural problems of the Hispanic American continent related to the construction of multiple identity aspects and their deconstruction; these will be investigated by reflecting and analyzing the rewrites of the myth (autochthonous, African and classical) within the literary texts of the twentieth century, as well as considering the elaboration of contemporary cultural myths (nature, mulatta) and the adoption of rhetoric of the myth by political power (the dictatorships of Cono Sur).
The course will be divided into two main parts:
1. At first one students will be provided with general theoretical elements of mythocritics, through the presentation of an archeology of the main studies on myth and an exposition of the main theoretical lines on myth as a cultural product and appropriate element from literature.
2. In the second part we will analyze a selection of twentieth century Hispanic American texts focused on the rewriting of myth (autochthonous, African and classical) as well as on the creation of cultural myths and mythological languages such as strategy of construction and deconstruction of the 'identity. In this phase, students will also be invited to choose one or more of the proposed themes and develop a presentation during the lesson.

MAIN BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Anthological selection
-Horacio Quiroga, “El alambre de púa”, Cuentos de amor, de locura y de muerte (1917)
-Miguel Ángel Asturias, “Leyenda del tesoro del lugar florido” (1930)
- Nicolás Guillén, “Mulata” (1930)
______________ “Sóngoro cosongo”(1930)
______________ “Caña” (1931)
-Lydia Cabrera, “Arere Marekén” (1940)
_____________ “El limo del Almendares” (1940)
-Alejo Carpentier, “De lo real maravilloso americano” ([1949] 1967)
-Jorge Luis Borges, “El sur” (1944)
________________ “La casa de Asterión” (1949)
-Julio Cortazar, “Las Ménades” (1956)
- Octavio Paz, “Los hijos de la Malinche”, cap IV. El laberinto de la soledad (1950)
- José Emilio Pacheco, “La sangre de Medusa” (1959)
-Elena Garro, “La culpa es de los Tlazcaltecas” (1964)
- Walsh, Rodolfo, “Esa mujer” (1965)
-Giovanna Rivero, “Medusa”, en Niñas y detectives (2009)
-Alberto Sánchez Arguello, “Pandora”, en MicroMundos (2012)

CRITICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY:
-Campra, Rosalba, America Latina: l’identità e la maschera, Roma, Meltemi, 2013.
-López Baralt, Mercedes, Para decir al Otro: Literatura y antropología en nuestra América, Madrid-Frankfurt am Maim: Iberoamericana-Vervuert, 2005 (Introduzione, capitolo 1).
-Herrero Cecilia, Juan “El mito como intertexto: la reescritura de los mitos en las obras literarias”, en Cédille. Revista de Estudios Franceses, n° 2, Tenerife, Asociación de Profesores de Francés de la Universidad Española, 2006, pp. 58-76.
-Lèvi-Strauss, Claude, Mito e significato, Milano: il Saggiatore, 2010.
-Oviedo, José Miguel, Historia de la literatura hispanoamericana, Madrid: Alianza, 2001 (capitoli riguardanti gli autori trattati).
-Cannavacciuolo, Margherita, “Resemantización del mito como figura de la modernidad: “La sangre de Medusa” de José Emilio Pacheco”, in Anales de Literatura Hispanoamericanas, vol. 39, Madrid, Universidad Complutense, 2010, pp. 429-442.
-Regazzoni, Susanna, “Lydia Cabrera o la transculturación mítica”, in Paola Mildonian y Biagio D'Angelo, Comparaciones en vertical, Venezia: Supernova, 2009.
_________________ “El relato del cadáver de una mujer entre Historia y ficción: Evita”, Verba Hispanica (in corso di stampa).
-Solares-Larrave Francisco, “El discurso del mito: respuesta a la modernidad en Leyendas de Guatemala”, in Miguel Angel Asturias, Cuentos y leyendas, Edited by Mario Roberto Morales. Madrid -París: ALLCA, 2000, pp. 675-705.

RECOMMENDED BIBLIOGRAPHY:
-Barthes, Roland, Miti d’oggi, Torino: Einaudi, 2016.
-Blumemberg, Hans, Elaborazione del mito, Bologna: Il Mulino, 1991.
-Cannavacciuolo, Margherita, Habitar el margen: sobre la narrativa de Lydia Cabrera, Sevilla, Renacimiento, 2010.
-Cassier, Ernst, Simbolo, mito e cultura, Bari: Laterza, 1985.
-Genette, Gérard, Palinsesti, Torino: Einaudi, 1997.
-Palermo, Zulma, “El mito de la modernidad desde las perspectivas críticas de América Latina”, en: Paola Mildonian y Biagio D'Angelo, Comparaciones en vertical, Venezia: Supernova, 2009.

The assessment of the learning will take place through the presentation in class of a topic chosen by the student and an oral final exam. The presentation aims to verify oral skills and the ability to carry out a critical reasoning; while the oral exam aims to verify the knowledge concerning the cultural contexts and the different literary issues of Hispanic America in the period considered, as well as the ability to understand cultural problems. The exam will last about 20-30 minutes and it will consist of approximately three questions.

oral

Regarding the grading scale, scores will be assigned according to the following criteria:
1) knowledge of the topics covered in class and in the bibliography (range 10 points)
2) ability to hierarchize information (range 10 points)
3) use of the appropriate specific terminology (range 10 points)
Honors will be awarded in the presence of knowledge and ability to understand applied in reference to the program, ability to formulate judgments, relevant autonomy and communication skills, excellent.
The class presentation will be evaluated taking into account the criteria described above and will constitute 30% of the overall grade.

The lessons will be carried out according to the conventional method (frontal lessons) and will be held in Spanish. Students will also be invited to choose one of the proposed themes and develop a presentation in the classroom using the theoretical tools presented and the proposed bibliography.
Should the covid health emergency affect the course attendance, the lessons will be carried out online in synchronous and asynchronous mode.
The exam will consist of an oral interview in Spanish on the authors, the texts and the issues considered in the classroom.

More critical information will be offer during the classes.
Moreover, every student is recommended to follow additional lessons and round-table conferences that may be held between September and December 2025.

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Poverty and inequalities" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development