MODERN AND MEDIEVAL LANGUAGES TRIPOS Part II
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Monday 3rd June 2002 1.30 to 4.30
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Paper Sp. 12
LATIN-AMERICAN LITERATURE
Answer THREE questions, including AT LEAST ONE from Section A. You may, if you wish, restrict your answers to Section A.
Candidates’ scripts as a whole must include ONE OR MORE answers that relate to poetry.
Do NOT draw substantially on the same material for more than ONE answer.
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You may not start to read the questions printed on the subsequent pages of this question paper until instructed that you may do so by the Invigilator
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SECTION A
Topics in Latin-American Culture
1 ‘There is little modern about modernismo: it is essentially a belated offshoot of aestheticism (art for art’s sake).’ Discuss with reference to the work of TWO OR MORE poets.
2 ‘Son poemas que, a través de una reivindicación de lo popular, buscan dar expresión a las culturas híbridas del Caribe.’ Discuss this characterization of negrista poetry with reference to the work of TWO OR MORE poets.
3 ‘Si las experiencias modernas inducen a la fragmentación de la percepción, no es de sorprender que la poesía vanguardista sea fragmentaria y discontinua.’ Discuss with reference to the work of TWO OR MORE avant-garde poets.
4 EITHER (a) ‘Con la pluralidad de lenguaje y de juegos estilísticos, los escritores buscan desmentir la unanimidad y la uniformidad que imponen las dictaduras.’ Discuss with reference to the work of TWO OR MORE novelists.
OR (b) ‘Exile is something more than leaving one’s country, being torn away from the place of one’s birth. It is a great metaphor of the human condition’ (Cristina Peri Rossi). How applicable is this idea to ANY TWO OR MORE novels of dictatorship?
5 ‘The narrativa de la tierra seems to effect a nostalgic return to a lost or hidden origin, but its journeys of rediscovery and reconquest are often inflected by irony and self-referentiality.’ Discuss with reference to the novels or short stories of TWO OR MORE writers.
6 ‘La poesía política devuelve a las palabras su contenido social universal, llenándolas de un substractum colectivo nuevo.’ Discuss with reference to the work of TWO OR MORE socially-committed poets.
7 ‘El realismo mágico representa una crítica profunda, sea de la racionalidad occidental, del colonialismo, del sistema patriarcal, o de los abusos del poder.’ Discuss AT LEAST TWO of the critiques mentioned in this quotation with reference to TWO OR MORE writers.
8 EITHER (a) ‘The City is a site of multiple stories whose strange intersections ultimately defy the fragmentation and alienation of modern experience.’ How applicable is this idea to your analysis of TWO OR MORE urban texts (which may be films)?
OR (b) Examine the importance of TWO OR THREE of the following in AT LEAST TWO urban films or narratives:
(i) subcultures;
(ii) the body;
(iii) gender;
(iv) art, literature, or music;
(v) the representation of space.
9 ‘What is so painfully dramatized in her work is this problematic relationship of woman to masculine language and masculine culture.’ Discuss with reference to the work of TWO OR MORE Latin-American women poets.
10 ‘Los juegos lingüísticos y narrativos apuntan a la necesidad de buscar la verdad más allá de las fórmulas congeladas de lo cotidiano.’ Discuss the applicability of this idea to works of experimental fiction by TWO OR MORE writers.
11 ‘History is always the ultimate horizon of fiction.’ Discuss with reference to historical texts by TWO OR MORE authors.
12 ‘El cuento es un relato que encierra un relato secreto: la historia secreta se construye con lo no dicho, con el sobreentendido y la alusión’ (Ricardo Piglia). Discuss with reference to the works of ANY TWO OR MORE short-story writers.
13 ‘How can film, with its coherent narratives and single perspective dominated by the camera, hope to question the singular version of history bequeathed by dictatorship?’ Discuss with reference to the work of TWO OR MORE Argentine film directors.
14 ‘La literatura de las mujeres en América Latina es parte de la voz de los oprimidos. La visión femenina será siempre la de los vencidos’ (Elena Poniatowska). Discuss with reference to texts by TWO OR MORE writers of fiction.
15 ‘Works which draw on, and are complicit with, popular culture lose their critical edge and dissolve into empty pastiche or blank parody.’ Discuss with reference to TWO OR MORE works.
16 ‘La literatura de testimonio es un encuentro con la historia real. Por eso mismo busca una alternativa a las fórmulas literarias, a la “belleza” y al artificio.’ Discuss with reference to TWO OR MORE works.
17 EITHER (a) ‘The representation of autochthonous society and culture in the arts in Latin America is characterized by tensions between modernity and tradition, individual expression and collective experience.’ Discuss with reference to the work of TWO OR MORE artists (who may include photographers).
OR (b) Discuss the representation and significance of AT LEAST TWO of the following motifs with reference to the work of TWO OR MORE artists or photographers:
(i) costume;
(ii) ethnicity;
(iii) history;
(iv) labour;
(v) gender;
(vi) artefacts;
(vii) technology
(viii) pictorial traditions;
(ix) colour.
18 ‘In post-boom literature it is no longer possible to write Ulyssean works based on coherent historical cycles and epiphanic insights.’ Discuss with reference to the work of AT LEAST TWO writers.
SECTION B
Poetry and Commentary
19 Answer ONE of the following questions:
(a) ‘Echar abajo las paredes entre el hombre y el hombre, juntar de nuevo lo que fue separado’ (Octavio Paz). How characteristic is this statement of Octavio Paz’s poetic practice?
(b) ‘Las palabras y el cuerpo físico constituyen la materia prima de la poética de César Vallejo.’ Discuss.
(c) ‘It is the very essence of poetry.’ Discuss this characterization of the poetry of Rubén Darío.
(TURN OVER for the continuation of Question 19)
(d) Discuss, and explore the links between, TWO OR MORE of the following with reference to TWO OR MORE collections of the poetry of Pablo Neruda: communication; the failure of language; sexual identity; the material world.
(e) Write a critical commentary on the following poem. You may, if you wish, relate this poem to other work by Pablo Neruda:
MADRIGAL ESCRITO EN INVIERNO
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En el fondo del mar profundo, en la noche de largas listas, como un caballo cruza corriendo tu callado callado nombre.
Alójame en tu espalda, ay refúgiame, aparéceme en tu espejo, de pronto, sobre la hoja solitaria, nocturna, brotando de lo oscuro, detrás de ti.
Flor de la dulce luz completa, acúdeme tu boca de besos, violenta de separaciones, determinada y fina boca.
Ahora bien, en lo largo y largo, de olvido a olvido residen conmigo los rieles, el grito de la lluvia: lo que la oscura noche preserva.
Acógeme en la tarde de hilo cuando el anochecer trabaja su vestuario, y palpita en el cielo una estrella llena de viento.
Acércame tu ausencia hasta el fondo, pesadamente, tapándote los ojos, crúzame tu existencia, suponiendo que mi corazón está destruido.
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Pablo Neruda, Residencia en la tierra
(e) ‘El universo poético de Huidobro se asemeja a la música o a la imagen: orden verbal autónomo, palabras en libertad.’ Discuss.
(f) ‘Cardenal une el lenguaje místico con el épico, los problemas del proletariado de su pueblo con la magia de lo cotidiano; la ironía con la intensidad de la vida moderna.’ Discuss.
(g) ‘His rediscovery of the Baroque provides him with the ideal canvas on which to paint the intricacies of the Cuban cultural melting pot.’ Discuss this description of the poetry of José Lezama Lima.
(h) ‘Poesía de crucigrama, intelecto puro trabado en los pliegues del lenguaje.’ Discuss this characterization of the poetry of Jorge Luis Borges.
(i) Compare the theme of sexuality AND/OR self-other relationships in the work of TWO OR MORE Latin-American poets.
SECTION C
Narrative
20 Answer ONE of the following questions:
(a) Discuss and relate TWO OR MORE of the following in the work of Juan Rulfo: sexuality; power; corruption; language.
(b) ‘Fantásticos o realistas, sus cuentos remiten a una sola problemática: el poder ilusorio de la ficción.’ Discuss this statement with reference to TWO OR MORE collections of stories (or essays) by Jorge Luis Borges.
(c) ‘Carpentier’s critique is aimed at the European discourses – cultural, political, social – which legitimized colonialism.’ Discuss.
(d) Discuss the function of circularity, self-reflexivity, or introspection in the work of Gabriel García Márquez.
(e) Discuss Julio Cortázar’s treatment of sexuality AND/OR gender.
(f) ‘La obra de Fuentes quiere enunciar la historia auténtica y total de América Latina.’ Discuss.
(g) ‘Es un realismo moderno, irónico, autorreflexivo.’ Discuss this characterization of the writing of Mario Vargas Llosa with reference to TWO OR MORE texts.
(h) ‘In Puig’s work, even sexuality – our most natural and intimate form of expression – is depicted as inauthentic.’ Discuss.
(i) ‘Marta Traba’s approach, whether to writing or to history, is, essentially, dialectic.’ Discuss with reference to TWO OR MORE texts.
(j) ‘Her work exposes the violence underlying the Mexican rhetoric of cultural and racial mestizaje, just as it exposes the violence subtending the patriarchal “order” of the family.’ Discuss with reference to the narratives of Rosario Castellanos.
(k) ‘Sábato quiere quebrantar la tiranía de la razón, del orden y del progreso.’ Discuss.
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