MODERN AND MEDIEVAL LANGUAGES TRIPOS Part IB
____________________________________________________________
Monday 24 May 2010 9 to 12
____________________________________________________________
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) ‘Sarmiento’s dichotomy between civilization and barbarism casts a long shadow on subsequent discourses of national or regional identity in Latin America.’ Discuss.
(b) ‘Questions of class, race and foreignness are powerful forces in these texts.’ Discuss.
(c) Discuss the role and significance of TWO OR MORE of the following with reference to texts dealing with nationhood:
(i) masks; (iii) otherness; (v) the intellectual.
(ii) history; (iv) myth;
2 Nightmares of the Urban
Answer ONE of the following with reference to TWO OR MORE texts or films:
(a) ‘Los protagonistas de textos urbanos latinoamericanos luchan con más o menos éxito por hacerse un espacio vital, una historia, una identidad dentro de una realidad hostil o indiferente.’ Discuss.
(b) ‘In the city, relations with others are mediated by an overwhelmingly complex network of factors.’ 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) fear; (iii) alienation; (v) family.
(ii) capitalism; (iv) violence;
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 novela de la Revolución Mexicana inquiere sobre el sentido de la existencia en común que puso al descubierto el trasvase humano revolucionario.’ Discuss.
(b) ‘In response to the Mexican Revolution, epic action and celebration give way to irony, despair, aestheticism and literary games.’ Discuss.
(c) ‘The complexity of the revolutionary process and its aftermath and the violent fracturing of a society are reflected in a complex and sophisticated discursive response.’ Discuss.
4 The ‘Racial’ Other
Answer ONE of the following with reference to TWO OR MORE texts:
(a) ‘In the novela indigenista race is a pretext for didacticism and the deployment of ideology.’ Discuss.
(b) ‘The voice of the indigenous American is inevitably filtered, distorted or silenced in these novels.’ Discuss.
(c) Discuss the interrelations between TWO OR THREE of the following in TWO OR THREE texts dealing with issues of ‘race’:
(i) land tenure; (iii) religion; (v) the economy.
(ii) mediators; (iv) family;
5 Penning the Dictator
Answer ONE of the following with reference to TWO OR MORE texts:
(a) ‘La función de la llamada novela de la dictadura es múltiple o ambigua: ¿denuncia, parodia, documento histórico, terapia, pretexto de virtuosismo estilístico?’ Discuss.
(b) ‘The evil depicted in these novels can rarely be traced to a simple cause or source.’ Discuss.
(c) ‘Language paradoxically fails and is at its most effective in novels about political violence.’ Discuss.
6 Labyrinths of Fiction
Answer ONE of the following with reference to TWO OR MORE literary or cinematic texts:
(a) ‘Good fiction, according to Borges, is characterized by “un proceso mágico, donde profetizan los pormenores, lúcido y limitado”.’ Discuss.
(b) ‘These texts are a curious combination of self-awareness and an engagement with the unknown, mysterious and other.’ Discuss.
(c) ‘The autonomy of the self and the individual is questioned from within and without in such texts.’ Discuss.
END OF PAPER