HISPANIC AMERICAN LITERATURE

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 fairy tales and the quechua folktale 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.

The course aims to deepen the study of the most important Hispanic American cultural phenomena of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries using as a privileged tool of analysis fairy tales rewritten and recreated within literary texts:
1. In this sense, the first objective of the course is to offer students the theoretical basis of analysis of the syntax and structure of the fairy tale through an overview of the most important studies related to it.
2. The second objective is to develop the technological, terminological and documentation tools to be able to interpret literary texts from a cultural and narratological point of view.
3. The third objective concerns the ability to apply the acquired knowledge. The theoretical tools learned will be applied to texts selected from the most important expressions of Hispanic America of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The texts will be analyzed and commented from a cultural and critical-literary point of view in their original elaboration in Spanish, in order to help students to develop the ability to identify cultural issues and problems.
4. Finally, the course aims to develop the ability to learn issues and tools offered during the course, as well as communication skills.

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.

Hispanic America and fairy tales between deconstruction and construction, with a Quechua interlude.

The course aims to provide an overview of the most significant rewritings of European-born fairy tales within the Hispanic American literary and cultural productions of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries with the purpose of highlighting the deconstruction of patriarchal and phallocentric discourses, and knowledge of they are bound, as well as the construction of new identity proposals.
The course will be divided into two main parts:
1. At first one students will be provided with general theoretical elements of analysis of the syntax and structure of the fairy tale, through the presentation of an archeology of the main studies on fairy tales and an exposition of the main theoretical lines as a cultural product and appropriate element from literature.
Interlude. The month of October will be dedicated to reflecting on the fairy tale within the indigenous Quechua culture, thanks to the presence of Professor Luis Alberto Medina Huamaní (Pontificia Universidad Católica del Peru), guest professor of Hispanic-American Language and Literature through the Erasmus ICM project, who will give four lectures on the following topics:
a. magical beings in the Andean world
b. the indigenous texts "La venganza del cóndor" by Ventura García Calderón and "La agonía del Rasu Ñiti" by José María Arguedas
c. two stories from the autobiography of Gregorio Condori Manani, an indigenous Quechua man whose story was recorded, transcribed, and published by anthropologists Ricardo Valderrama and Carmen Escalante.
d. Quechua culture today.
Professor Medina Huamaní's seminar will help to develop a theoretical reflection on the differences between European fairy tales and Quechua folkloric narratives, as well as the difference between magic and fantasy.
2. In the second part we will analyze a selection of twentieth and twenty-first centuries Hispanic American texts focused on the rewriting of fairy tales as strategy of deconstruction and construction of knowledges linked to it. In this phase, students will also be invited to choose one or more of the proposed themes or texts and develop a presentation during the lesson.

MAIN BIBLIOGRAPHY:
-Rosario Ferré, “La bella durmiente”, Papeles de Pandora (1976)
____________ “Un cuento envenenado” (1985)
-Gabriel García Márquez, “El avión de la Bella Durmiente” (1982), Doce cuentos peregrinos (1992)
-Silvina Ocampo, “Jardín de infierno”, Cornelia frente al espejo (1988)
-Luisa Valenzuela, “Si esto es la vida, yo soy Caperucita Roja”, Simetrías (1993)
______________ “No se detiene el progreso”, Simetrías (1993)
______________ “4 Príncipes 4”, Simetrías (1993)
_______________ “La llave”, Simetrías (1993)
- María Negroni, “Sleeping Beauty”, El viaje de la noche (1994)
_____________ “Cuento de hadas”, El viaje de la noche (1994)
-Lojo, María Rosa, “La hora de secreto”, Historias ocultas en la Recoleta (2005)
-María Teresa Andruetto, La Durmiente (2010)
-Alberto Sánchez Argüello, “Zapatilla”, De antifábulas y ficciones (2012)
______________________ “Confesión”, De antifábulas y ficciones (2012)
______________________ “Más grande”, MicroMundos (2012)
-Giovanna Rivero, “Piel de Asno”, Tierra fresca de su tumba (2022)

CRITICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY:
-Areta, José María, “La máscara del lenguaje en Cuentos de Hades de Luisa Valenzuela”, en Espéculo. Revista de estudios literarios, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 2007.
-Bettelheim, Bruno, Psicoanálisis de los cuentos de hadas, Barcelona, Editorial Crítica, 2020.
-Calvino, Italo, Sulla fiaba, Milano, Mondadori, 2019.
-Cannavacciuolo, Margherita, “Cuando las hadas son lo de menos: «Piel de asno» de Giovanna Rivero, Bulletin of Spanish Studies (in corso di stampa).
-Fernández Aguirre, Alma Rosa, “María Griselda: de hada a bruja”, FILHA. Revista Digital, 9.
- Lombello Soffiato, Donatella, “Analizzare una fiaba. Pelle d’asino: suggestioni letterarie e considerazioni pedagogiche”, 2018.
https://gribs.fisppa.unipd.it/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/LOMBELLO-e.pdf
-Paley Francescato, Martha, “un cuento de hadas contemporáneo (envenenado) de Rosario Ferré”, Revista de crítica literaria latinoamericana, Año XX, núm. 39. Lima, 1994; pp. 177-181.
-Regazzoni, Susanna, “Cuando la curiosidad te salva. El Barbazul de Luisa Valenzuela”, en Silvana Serafin, Emilia Perassi, Susanna Regazzoni, Luisa Campuzano (eds.), Más allá del umbral. Autoras hispanoamericanas y el oficio de la escritura, Sevilla, Renacimiento, 2010, pp.213-234.
__________________ “«Lo exótico es el otro, o soy yo». Espacio y tiempo en el relato de viaje: Condesa de Merlin y Luisa Valenzuela”, in Verba Hispánica, XX, 2, 2012, pp. 273-283.

GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY:
-Genette, Gérard, Palinsesti, Torino: Einaudi, 1997.
- Fernández Rodriguez, Carolina, La Bella Durmiente a través de la historia, Universidad de Oviedo, Servicio de Publicaciones, 1998.
-Oviedo, José Miguel, Historia de la literatura hispanoamericana, Madrid: Alianza, 2001 (capitoli riguardanti gli autori trattati).
- Pinkola Estés, Clarissa, Mujeres que corren con los lobos, Barcelona, Penguin Random House, 2020.
-Rak, Michele, Logica della fiaba: fate, orchi, gioco, corte, fortuna, viaggio, capriccio, metamorfosi, corpo. Milano: Mondadori, 2005.
- Rodari, Gianni, Gramática de la fantasía. Introducción al arte de inventar historias, Barcelona, Hogar del Libro, 1976.
- Von Franz, Marie-Louise, L'ombra e il male nella fiaba, Torino, Bollati Boringhieri, 1995.
______________________ Il femminile nella fiaba, Torino, Bollati Boringhieri, 2007.
______________________ Le fiabe interpretate, Torino, Bollati Boringhieri, 2019.

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

The lecturer has a duty to ensure that the rules regarding the authenticity and originality of exam tests and papers are respected. Therefore, if there is suspicion of irregular conduct, an additional assessment may be conducted, which could differ from the original exam description.

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 2026.

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