MODERN AND MEDIEVAL LANGUAGES TRIPOS Part II
____________________________________________________________
Monday 2 June 2003 1.30 to 4.30
____________________________________________________________________
Paper Sp. 12
LATIN-AMERICAN LITERATURE
Answer THREE questions, ONE, TWO OR THREE from Section A, ONE OR NONE from Section B, and ONE OR NONE from Section C.
Candidates’ scripts as a whole must include ONE OR MORE answers that relate to poetry.
Candidates for this paper may NOT draw substantially on material from their dissertations or material which they have used or intend to use in another scheduled paper. Candidates may NOT draw substantially on the same material in more than one question on the same paper.
|
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
|
SECTION A
Topics in Latin-American Culture
1 Examine the importance of TWO OR THREE of the following in the work of AT LEAST TWO modernista poets:
(i) exoticism; (iii) mythology; (v) French culture;
(ii) Americanism; (iv) formal innovation; (vi) eroticism.
2 ‘In their poems social and racial themes are articulated though a stylized black Caribbean language.’ Discuss this characterization of negrista poetry with reference to the work of TWO OR MORE poets.
3 ‘En su obra la destrucción de los viejos códigos es inseparable de la creación de un nuevo universo poético.’ Discuss with reference to the work of TWO OR MORE avant-garde poets.
4 ‘The novel is a powerful medium both for depicting and undoing the structures and language of dictatorship.’ Discuss with reference to the work of TWO OR MORE novelists.
5 ‘The tension between modernity, social or literary, and the evocation of essence and origin makes these seemingly simple texts of the narrativa de la tierra complex and problematic.’ Discuss with reference to the novels or short stories of TWO OR MORE writers.
6 ‘Effective political poetry must combine ready comprehensibility with real poetic originality, a collective voice and a personal voice.’ Discuss with reference to the work of TWO OR MORE socially-committed poets.
7 ‘El realismo mágico es un instrumento insustituible para reflejar las complejas realidades sociales y culturales de América Latina, pero también se presta a la frivolidad y al exotismo.’ Discuss with reference to TWO OR MORE writers.
8 Examine the importance of TWO OR THREE of the following TWO OR MORE urban films or narratives:
(i) violence; (iii) sexuality; (v) marginalization.
(ii) space; (iv) narration and culture;
9 ‘Una confrontación franca y valerosa con la hipocresía, las luchas veladas y la subyugación de la mujer y su sufrimiento que prevalecen en la sociedad latinoamericana.’ Discuss with reference to the work of TWO OR MORE Latin-American women poets.
10 ‘The Latin-American experimental novel problematizes the act of narration, but tells the same old stories.’ Discuss with reference to TWO OR MORE writers.
11 ‘Historical novels usually include meditation on the nature of history and the act of writing about history.’ Discuss with reference to historical texts by TWO OR MORE authors.
12 ‘El cuento cuenta el encuentro con lo otro, con lo que perturba la tranquilidad existencial o intelectual.’ Discuss with reference to the works of TWO OR MORE short-story writers.
13 ‘Argentine cinema of the post-dictatorship period refuses direct representation of military violence and dictatorship, preferring a sideways glance as if it were still operating under the effects of censorship.’ Discuss with reference to TWO OR MORE films.
14 ‘Las prácticas discursivas de las mujeres latinoamericanas subvierten tanto la temática como el enfoque masculino.’ Discuss with reference to texts by TWO OR MORE writers of fiction.
15 ‘The use of popular culture in traditionally elite forms of art makes interpretation, including the recognition of authorial intentionality, difficult and problematical.’ Discuss with reference to TWO OR MORE works.
16 ‘The appeal to authenticity in testimomial literature is undermined by the presence of the voice of the middle-class author.’ Discuss with reference to TWO OR MORE works.
17 With reference to TWO OR MORE artists or photographers, discuss the problems involved in depicting the autochtonous AND/OR women.
18 ‘Las diferencias entre la narrativa del “boom” y las que le son posteriores están muy claras.’ Discuss with reference to the work of TWO OR MORE writers.
SECTION B
Poetry and Commentary
19 Answer ONE of the following questions:
(a) ‘The excitement of Paz’s poetry lies in the impossible quest to go through language and love beyond the self, language, time.’ Discuss.
(b) ‘Poco importan el esteticismo y la cursilería de los versos de Darío al lado de su erotismo poderoso, su melancolía viril, su pasmo ante el latir del mundo y del propio corazón, la conciencia de la soledad humana.’ Discuss some or all of the aspects of Darío’s poetry mentioned in this statement.
(c) ‘La ruptura semántica y lingüística de la poesía de Vallejo es el reflejo fiel de su angustioso sentido de pérdida, de desconcierto, de desamparo; pero también de su solidaridad y amor.’ Discuss.
(d) Write a critical commentary on the following poem. You may, if you wish, relate this poem to other work by Vallejo:
Trilce XXX
Quemadura del segundo
En toda la tierna carnecilla del deseo,
Picadura de ají vagoroso
A las dos de la tarde inmoral.
Guante de los bordes borde a borde. 5
Olorosa verdad tocada en vivo, al conectar
la antena del sexo
con lo que estamos siendo sin saberlo.
Lavaza de maxima ablución.
Calderas viajeras 10
que se chocan y salpican de fresca sombra
unánime, el color, la fracción, la dura vida,
La dura vida eterna.
No temamos. La muerte es así.
El sexo sangre de la amada que se queja 15
dulzorada, de portar tanto
por tan punto ridículo.
Y el circuito
Entre nuestro pobre día y la noche grande,
A las dos de la tarde inmoral. 20
(e) 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:
(i) The role of the poet; (iii) reading the world;
(ii) nature; (iv) others.
(f) ‘Bellos y libres objetos verbales, celebración de ese animal fabulador que es el hombre.’ Discuss this description of the poetry of Vicente Huidobro.
(g) ‘La postura revolucionaria, utópica y mística de Cardenal resultaría bastante indigesta sin su admirable sensibilidad e inventiva poéticas.’ Discuss.
(h) ‘Lezama’s metaphors are conveyed in a language that is highly ornamental and elaborate: it is an attempt to go beyond the historical, to a mythical time of origination.’ Discuss.
(i) ‘Fina e irónica indagación del tiempo, del ser, de la palabra.’ Discuss this characterization of the poetry of Jorge Luis Borges.
(j) Compare the presentation of the role of the poet in the work of TWO OR MORE Latin-American poets.
SECTION C
Narrative
20 Answer ONE of the following questions:
(a) ‘Rulfo’s characters seem to have been emptied of self, memory, and expression by a generalized malaise or crisis in the society in which they exist.’ Discuss.
(b) Discuss and explore the links between TWO OR MORE of the following in the work of Jorge Luis Borges:
(i) intertextuality and originality; (iii) the individual;
(ii) plot; (iv) reality.
(c) ‘Carpentier’s narrative weaves together heterogeneous cultures, temporalities, and realities to reflect the rich and fluid hybridity of Latin-American life.’ Discuss.
(d) ‘Fascina en la obra de Gabriel García Márquez la convivencia de una celebración vital de la anécdota, de los gozos y las lúcidas complejidades de la creación literaria con una dolorida y compasiva exploración de la infelicidad.’ Discuss.
(e) ‘Los dualismos de la obra de Julio Cortázar, por ejemplo Oliveira y la Maga, cuento y novela, Buenos Aires y París, el individuo y lo otro, son sólo aparentes; su práctica literaria los disuelve y los desplaza.’ Discuss.
(f) ‘En la obra de Fuentes la experimentación literaria más audaz y la fantasía más desbocada siempre están al servicio de una sólida fidelidad a la realidad social, histórica y vivencial de sus personajes.’ Discuss.
(g) ‘The plural narrative strands, the games with genre and point of view in Mario Vargas Llosa’s novels brilliantly embody the complexity and explore the knowability of (Latin-American) reality.’ Discuss.
(h) ‘The use in Puig’s novels of non-traditional media such as pastiche, popular culture, science fiction paradoxically allows a heightened realism in the portrayal of human relationships.’ Discuss.
(i) ‘Marta Traba forja en sus obras un precario espacio de libertad ante la opresión y el exilio.’ Discuss with reference to TWO OR MORE texts.
(j) ‘En las narraciones de Rosario Castellanos las relaciones sociales, raciales y sexuales desembocan inevitablemente en la infelicidad y la desigualdad.’ Discuss.
(k) ‘Sábato’s characters can only respond with fatalism, irrationality, failure and anguish to a hostile and alienating society.’ Discuss.
END OF PAPER