MODERN AND MEDIEVAL LANGUAGES TRIPOS Part I
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Monday 9 June 1997 9 to 12
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Paper 39
TOPICS IN SPANISH-AMERICAN CULTURE AND HISTORY
Answer THREE questions.
DO NOT draw substantially on the same material for more than ONE
answer.
1 Answer ONE of the following:
(a) ‘La historia de América Latina es la del hombre que busca su filiación, su origen.’ Discuss with reference to AT LEAST TWO writers or essayists.
(b) ‘The first authors of the new Republics were also among the Fathers of their countries, preparing national projects through prose fiction.’ Discuss with reference to AT LEAST TWO authors.
(c) Discuss the relative influence of Europe and the United States of America on the concepts of national AND/OR Latin-American identity as expressed in the work of TWO OR MORE essayists.
(d) ‘Nationalist or even regionalist thinking depends upon the creation of a false set of oppositions: between self and other, between civilized and barbarian.’ Discuss with reference to AT LEAST TWO texts.
2 Answer ONE of the following:
(a) ‘Quería gritar, luchar a golpes con la ciudad espantosamente sorda…’ (El juguete rabioso). In the light of this quotation, discuss the extent to which life in the Latin-American city is portrayed as hostile and alienating in any TWO OR MORE texts.
(b) ‘In Latin-American urban writing, the city is a microcosm of human society, of the human condition itself.’ Discuss with reference to the work of AT LEAST TWO writers or film directors.
(c) ‘In the modern city, nightmare and reality fuse into one.’ How applicable is this statement to Latin-American urban texts? Your answer should refer to TWO OR THREE texts (of which ONE may be a film).
(d) Give an account of the rôle of TWO OR THREE of the following in the development of ONE OR TWO Latin-American cities in the twentieth century:
(i) foreign immigration;(iii) rural-urban migration;
(ii) urban subcultures; (iv) transport infrastructure.
(TURN OVER
3 Answer ONE of the following:
(a) ‘Las revoluciones las ganan siempre los que tienen el poder de la palabra.’ How relevant is this statement to your reading of works by TWO OR THREE authors dealing with revolution or violence?
(b) Compare and account for the stylistic techniques used in ANY TWO novels of revolution or political violence.
(c) ‘In writing dealing with revolution, violence, or poverty, the breakdown in social relationships is almost always translated into a breakdown in family relationships.’ Discuss with reference to TWO OR MORE novels or collections of short stories.
(d) ‘La Revolución Mexicana nunca fue una revolución realmente popular, sino una revolución institucional.’ Discuss with reference EITHER to the history of the Mexican Revolution, OR to its portrayal in cultural texts, OR BOTH.
4 Answer ONE of the following:
(a) ‘Latin-American novels dealing with “race” often adopt a paternalist and/or realist style which, however well intentioned, reproduces the racist structures of power which they ostensibly contest.’ Discuss with reference to AT LEAST TWO texts.
(b) ‘Para desmantelar el racismo, hay que empezar por desmantelar las estructuras lingüísticas que lo sostienen.’ Discuss with reference to texts by TWO OR THREE writers.
(c) ‘Latin-American society is essentially hybrid.’ How well is this statement borne out in the texts you have studied that deal with ‘race’? Your answer should refer closely to TWO OR THREE texts.
(d) Discuss the relative importance of TWO OR THREE of the following with reference to AT LEAST TWO texts dealing with ‘race’:
(i) stereotypes; (iii) narrative perspective;
(ii) language; (iv) religion and mythology.
5 Answer ONE of the following:
(a) Examine the links drawn between sexuality and authoritarianism in AT LEAST TWO novels or collections of stories dealing with dictatorship.
(b) ‘Language always undoes the dictator’s power to “dictate”.’ Discuss with reference to texts by TWO OR MORE writers.
(c) ‘The dictator’s world is enclosed, stifling, absurd, and ultimately self-referential: this is why he is such a fascinating figure for writers.’ Discuss with reference to TWO OR MORE novels or collections of stories.
(d) Examine the treatment of and explore the relationship between TWO OR THREE of the following in AT LEAST TWO novels or collections of stories dealing with dictatorship:
(i) torture: (iii) resistance;
(ii) motherhood; (iv) writing.
6 Answer ONE of the following:
(a) ‘El texto de metaficción es de por sí una especie de laberinto, por ser un mundo textual sin salida.’ Discuss with reference to AT LEAST TWO novels or collections of short stories.
(b) Discuss the use and effect of imagery and symbolism in TWO OR MORE metafictional works.
(c) Discuss the means used to break down the distinction between ‘fiction’ and ‘reality’ in the work of TWO OR THREE writers.
(d) Examine the importance of the Doppelgänger or double in AT LEAST TWO novels or collections of short stories.