Cuban Literature and Film: Imagination, Revolt, and Melancholia
SPAN 296
Spring 2025
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
CGST 324, COL 314, LAST 315 |
This course surveys the major aesthetic and socio-historical movements in modern and contemporary Cuba. Since the late 19th century, the island of Cuba has been at the center of a number of key epochal disputes: between colonialism and independence, racism and racial justice, neocolonialism and revolution, liberalism and socialism, isolationism and globalization. In the arts, the turn of the century launched a period of great imaginative invention. Considering the singular place of Cuba in Latin America, the Caribbean, and the globe, this course addresses some of the most representative works of Cuban literature and film since independence until the present time. Imagination, revolt, and melancholia are the three concepts that will orient our discussion. Imagination refers both to artistic creation and to the collective capacity of projecting new worlds, utopias, or impossible realities. Revolt, as opposed to revolution, is not restrained to politics as usual but relates rather to a deep experience of discontent and a return (from the Latin revolvere) to ancient psycho-social strata. Finally, melancholia serves as a point of view to understand what happens when history does not live up to emancipatory expectations. Special attention will be given to Afrocubanismo, ethnographic literature, the avant-garde aesthetics of the group Orígenes, Marvelous Realism, testimony, revolution, socialist experimental film, diaspora, the Special Period, and post-Soviet life. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA RLAN |
| Course Format: Lecture / Discussion | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: SPAN221 |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (CSCT)(HISP)(HRAD-MN) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: 75% - 89% |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Literature by: Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, José Martí, Fernando Ortiz, José Lezama Lima, Virgilio Piñera, Alejo Carpentier, Nicolás Guillén, Miguel Barnet, Nancy Morejón, Roberto Fernández Retamar, Reinaldo Arenas, Antonio José Ponte, Elaine Vilar Madruga.
Films by: Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, Santiago Álvarez, Sergio Giral, León Ichazo, Sara Gómez, Nicolás Guillén Landrián, Fernando Pérez, Alejandro Brugués.
Theoretical, historical and critical work by: Enzo Traverso, Julia Kristeva, Rafael Rojas, Antonio Benítez Rojo, Aimé Césaire, Édouard Glissant, Fidel Castro, Ernesto Guevara, Ricardo Piglia, C.L.R. James.
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Examinations and Assignments:
Short response papers
Presentation
Final Paper/Art Project |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
This course is intended for students who have completed SPAN 221 with a B- or better. Students who have not done so should consult with the professor before preregistering. Readings, written assignments, and class discussions will be in Spanish. Only COL students may take this course CR/U. Students are expected to be active/informed participants in class discussions, further developing their spoken Spanish skills. |
| Instructor(s): Plaza,Juan Esteban Times: ..T.R.. 10:20AM-11:40AM; Location: FISK101; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 15 | | SR major: 8 | JR major: 2 | | |
| Seats Available: 0 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 1 | JR non-major: 1 | SO: 2 | FR: 1 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 7 | 1st Ranked: 3 | 2nd Ranked: 3 | 3rd Ranked: 1 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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