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CS92PROD
Beyond Machu Picchu and Macondo: Real and Imaginary Worlds in Latin American Letters
SPAN 273
Spring 2020 not offered
Crosslisting: LAST 273

Latin American writers and intellectuals have long conceived of their particular literary and cultural practices in connection to individual spaces and sites, both real and imagined. In this course we will examine why and how they have done so, looking not only at well-known if not legendary ones such as Machu Picchu and Macondo, invented, respectively, by Neruda and García Márquez in certain moments of their careers, but also the América and Gran Colombia of Simón Bolívar, the New York City of the Cuban intellectual José Martí (1880s) and of the Nuyorican writer Tato Laviera (1970s), and César Aira's Colón (Panamá) and Fernando Vallejo's Medellín (Colombia). In each case we will be concerned with understanding the relationship between local, national, and hemispheric history and the new imaginarios created by the author/intellectual in question in the context of north-south relations. Topics to be considered within this critical framework will include the Wars of Independence, industrialization in the late 19th-century, the construction of the Panama Canal (1904--1914), the Cold War (1947--1991), Latino identity in the context of Puerto Rico and New York City, the coup d'état in Chile on September 11, 1973, and the drug wars. When possible, films and short videos will be used to help build knowledge of historical context.
Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: HA RLAN
Course Format: SeminarGrading Mode: Graded
Level: UGRD Prerequisites: None
Fulfills a Major Requirement for: (HISP)(LAST)(RMST)

Last Updated on MAR-28-2024
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