Department of Spanish and Portuguese

Paper Sp 4

Modern Spanish culture and history

Reading List

From Michaelmas 2010 (for Tripos 2011), the format of this paper is changing. There is a copy of the specimen paper in the MML Library and you can also see it online on this PDF file, please click here. PLEASE bear in mind the new format when you refer to past papers for revisions, etc.

This is a second-year paper. Those coming to it will therefore have already studied the "Introduction to Hispanic Texts", or "Structures and Varieties of Spanish", or, in the case of those who took up Spanish ab initio, the 4 texts set for beginners in their first year. The way the paper is studied is flexible, to suit the varying types and levels of preparation of those who take it on, although it is hoped that as many as possible will be encouraged to explore themes and texts beyond the minimum they might find required for examination. The paper introduces you to major topics or concerns in the Modern period of Peninsular Spanish, giving you the option of including some work on the nineteenth century, and allowing you to come up to the present day.

From Michaelmas 2010, the paper will be based on five themes or topics, which between them encompass a wide variety of interests in the period covered.  We strongly encourage you to attend all lectures for the paper. In supervisions you should expect to cover four of these topics. Each of the topics requires you to be able to think and write comparatively, and frequently to bring to the topic a knowledge and awareness of historical and cultural factors. Because of this wide scope, you would normally spend at least two supervisions working on any one topic. The supervisions are organized, as far as possible, to keep step with the lectures, so that at the same time as you do detailed work on a topic, you will find that you are supplied with background information, as well as detailed textual discussion in lectures. The lecturers will also provide bibliography, and handouts of key texts which you would find it difficult to secure otherwise. You will also find in the MML library that there are Xeroxes of a number of key articles relating to the topics of this paper, some of which are linked to topics covered in Paper Sp 9, the Part II Modern paper, and Paper CS 6, the Part II course in European Film.

The topics of the paper are:

• Spain in crisis, 1890-1923
• Prescriptions of gender
• The Art of Modernity
• The Post Civil War Novel and Franco's Spain
• Images of Spain

There are no prescribed texts for the paper, but the reading list suggests works which will be relevant to each topic. You should also consult the handout of the details of lectures which we produce at the start of each year so that you can see the order in which topics and texts will be covered. The tradition within the department of maintaining the importance of historical background is built into this structure.

Topics

Spain in crisis, 1890-1923

This covers selected aspects of the generation of '98, within the context of the history of the period, particularly the context of Anarchism, Socialism, Syndicalism and the Land Question.

Texts

• Unamuno, En torno al casticismo
• Maeztu, Hacia otra España
• Valle-Inclán, Luces de bohemia
• Baroja, Aurora roja and El árbol de la ciencia.
• Azorín, Castilla.

Prescriptions of gender

This includes works from the late 19th and the 20th centuries.

Texts

• Pardo Bazán, Un viaje de novios
• Galdós, Tristana
• García Lorca, Yerma and Bodas de sangre
• Unamuno, La tía Tula
• Martín Gaite, Usos amorosos de la posguerra
• Laforet, Nada.

The Art of Modernity

This topic builds on the introduction to modernist prose given by the Tres novelas ejemplares y un prólogo in Sp 2, providing additional literary texts, and contemporary theoretical background.

Texts

• Ortega y Gasset, La deshumanización del arte and Ideas sobre la novela
• Unamuno, Niebla, Tres novelas ejemplares y un prólogo and Cómo se hace una novela
• Valle-Inclán, Sonatas and Tirano Banderas
• Miró, La novela de mi amigo.
• Gillén, Cántico
• Salinas, La voz a ti debida
• García Lorca, Romancero gitano

The Post Civil War Novel and Franco's Spain

This topic has a wide range of texts to provide material for the more adventurous.

Texts

• Cela, La familia de Pascual Duarte and La Colmena
• Laforet, Nada
• Goytisolo, Señas de identidad
• Martín Santos, Tiempo de silencio
• Marsé, Últimas tardes con Teresa and Si te dicen que caí

Images of Spain

This section involves a study of contemporary Spain through the visual medium. Works of art and films have been selected not only for their historical relevance but also for their particular interpretation of the social and political tensions which have characterised Spain from the first half of the nineteenth century the present day.

Prescribed Viewing

• Libertarias (Aranda)
• Bienvenido Mr Marshall (Berlanga)
• Matador (Almodóvar)
• Jamón, jamón (Medem)
• Works by Goya, Fortuny and Sorolla

Cambridge bookshops (Heffers and Waterstone's) are aware of our reading lists. You may be able to purchase second-hand copies of some of the books from Heffers (tel. 01223 568568). You might also like to try online book-sellers like Amazon, alibris or abebooks.

All lists are also available online: see the Department's Home Page (spanish), under Reading Lists.