MODERN AND MEDIEVAL LANGUAGES TRIPOS  Part IB

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            Monday 25 May 2009     9 to 12

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Paper Sp. 5

            TOPICS IN SPANISH-AMERICAN CULTURE AND HISTORY

            Answer THREE questions.

            Do NOT draw substantially on the same material for more than ONE answer.

STATIONERY REQUIREMENTS

20 Page Answer Book x 1

Rough work pad

            Tags

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

1          Nation and Narration

Answer ONE of the following with reference to the work of TWO OR MORE writers, essayists or artists:

            (a)     ‘Writing aiming to establish or fix national identity often depends on very slippery and precarious notions of “them” and “us”.’  Discuss.

(b)     ‘Latin American writing disguises political, class or economic interests as essential characteristics of a nation.’  Discuss.

            (c)     Discuss the role and significance of TWO OR MORE of the following with reference to texts dealing with nationhood:

                     (i)   gender;              (iii)  Europe;               (v)  nature.

                     (ii)  narration;           (iv)  race;

2          Nightmares of the Urban

Answer ONE of the following with reference to TWO OR MORE texts or films:

            (a)     ‘Language as invention, myth, narration, multilingualism or citation is the protagonist of many narrations of the Latin American city.’  Discuss.

            (b)     ‘La cultura y la percepción de la ciudad latinoamericana varían sensiblemente con el tiempo histórico y las diferencias geográficas.’  Discuss.

            (c)     Discuss the role and significance of TWO OR MORE of the following with reference to texts dealing with the Latin American city:

                     (i)   money;               (iii)    employment;               (v)  immigration.

                     (ii)  space;                 (iv)    history;

3          Charting Revolution

            Answer ONE of the following with reference to TWO OR MORE texts (which may include visual arts AND/OR historical sources):

(a)     ‘La narrativa de la Revolución Mexicana se mofa, a sabiendas o inconscientemente, de la coherencia del proceso histórico al que alude o de la noción de una transformación nacional  radical.’  Discuss.

(b)     Analyse and interrelate THREE OR MORE of the following in texts you have studied for this topic:

                     (i)   the intellectual;                  (iii)  gender relationships;        (v)   land;

                     (ii)  revolutionary leaders;        (iv)  death;                               (vi)  language.

(c)     ‘Los dramas familiares son el escenario o el trasfondo, metafórico o real, de la literatura sobre la Revolución Mexicana.’  Discuss.

4          The Racial Other

            Answer ONE of the following with reference to TWO OR MORE texts:

            (a)     ‘In these texts, the racial Other exists primarily as a construction of the ideology of the author or of the interests of the dominant sectors of society.’  Discuss.

            (b)     ‘Racial binaries are at once disturbed and consolidated in narratives concerned with race.’  Discuss.

            (c)     Discuss the interrelations between TWO OR THREE of the following in TWO OR THREE texts dealing with issues of race:

(i)   cultural difference;         (iii)  sex;               (v)  language.

(ii)  oppression;                     (iv)  history;

5          Penning the Dictator

            Answer ONE of the following with reference to TWO OR MORE texts:

            (a)     ‘From the avant-garde virtuosity of some authors to the stuttering and painful discourse of the victims, the tensions of narratives of dictatorship are most evident in their language.’  Discuss.

            (b)     ‘La narrativa de la dictadura es un mirador privilegiado y doloroso sobre el panorama de males que aquejan o han aquejado a las sociedades latinoamericanas.’  Discuss.

            (c)     Discuss the treatment of TWO OR MORE of the following in literary AND/OR socio-historical texts that you have studied for this topic:

(i)   information;       (iii)  sexual violence;                       (v)  authorship.

(ii)  family;                (iv)  specific political regimes;

6          Labyrinths of Fiction

            Answer ONE of the following with reference to TWO OR MORE texts or films:

(a)     ‘These apparently playful literary experiments often open up daunting psychological, historical or metaphysical depths.’  Discuss.

            (b)     Discuss the relationship between TWO OR THREE of the following in TWO OR MORE texts or films:

(i)   internal authors;       (iii)  reading;                   (v)  time.

(ii)  duality;                     (iv)  mise-en-abyme;

(c)     ‘Muchas veces la literatura fantástica revela más sobre la realidad que la llamada literatura realista.’  Discuss.

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