MODERN AND MEDIEVAL LANGUAGES TRIPOS Part IB
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Day Date Month Year Time to Time
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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.
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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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1 Nation and Narration
Answer ONE of the following with reference to the work of TWO OR MORE Latin-American writers, essayists, or artists:
(a) ‘Narration is by its very nature an open and heterogeneous dialogue, which is why tensions inevitably arise when it is put into the service of nationalist myth-making.’ Discuss.
(b) Examine the ways in which writers, essayists, or artists concerned with national issues incorporate historical events or personalities into their works.
(c) ‘The opposition between Civilization and Barbarism mobilizes a whole series of other dualities, often in contradictory fashion.’ Discuss.
(d) ‘Las nuevas Repúblicas fueron inventadas por necesidades políticas y militares del momento, no porque expresasen una realidad histórica’ (Octavio Paz). To what extent does your reading of the process of nation formation in Latin America bear out this idea? Your answer may refer to cultural or historical sources.
2 Nightmares of the Urban
Answer ONE of the following with reference to TWO OR MORE texts or films:
(a) ‘La ciudad es un monstruo híbrido, hecha, como el de Frankenstein, de restos y desechos de distintos cuerpos, culturas y temporalidades.’ Discuss.
(b) ‘The nightmarish quality of these works is attributable to the fact that they reveal a side of social experience which most people refuse to acknowledge and indeed unconsciously repress.’ Discuss.
(c) ‘A pesar de la sordidez de la experiencia urbana, ésta representa un desafío a las jerarquías sociales y a las convenciones (lingüísticas, literarias, cinematográficas). Por lo tanto, estimula la experimentación y la innovación.’ Discuss.
(d) Assess the impact of periods of (im)migration (from abroad or from the countryside) on TWO OR MORE Latin American cities.
3 Charting Revolution
Answer ONE of the following with reference to TWO OR MORE texts (which may include visual media):
(a) ‘Revolución suele significar ruptura. Sin embargo, la mayoría de los textos que tratan de la Revolución la interpretan, a veces fatídicamente, en su sentido cíclico, como si nada en realidad hubiera cambiado.’ Discuss with reference to cultural or historical texts (or both).
(b) ‘In Latin America, land is a social and political issue as much as a natural given. For the peasants, it is the source of identity, family and community and so is central to most forms of social struggle.’ Discuss.
(c) ‘La revolución mexicana produce una auténtica revolución en la novela: en la forma, en el lenguaje, en la temática.’ Discuss. If you wish, your answer may discuss forms other than the novel.
(d) ‘The Mexican Revolution was betrayed by the bourgeoisie, who never intended to carry out its most radical proclamations.’ Discuss.
4 The ‘Racial’ Other
Answer ONE of the following with reference to TWO OR MORE texts:
(a) ‘There are two main tendencies in writing about ‘race’ and ethnicity: the first posits the other as irrevocably different, self-contained and pure; the second posits the other as hybrid, open and plural.’ To what extent is either of these tendencies present in texts you have studied for this topic?
(b) ‘It is these texts’ awareness of the power relations underlying language that lend them a certain complexity in their depiction of ethnic or racial difference.’ Discuss.
(c) ‘Para vigilar la pureza de la raza, hay que vigilar la pureza de la mujer.’ Discuss the relevance of this observation to texts you have studied for this topic.
(d) ‘En general son obras que nos dicen más sobre las inseguridades de la sociedad blanca que sobre la naturaleza y la experiencia del otro.’ Discuss.
5 Penning the Dictator
Answer ONE of the following with reference to TWO OR MORE texts:
(a) ‘La escritura abre pequeñas brechas en la fachada monolítica de la dictadura: propaga raíces y semillas y hace florecer la esperanza hasta en los rincones más oscuros.’ Discuss.
(b) ‘In these works, the mechanisms of dictatorship seem inseparable from those of patriarchy.’ Discuss.
(c) Discuss THREE of the following in TWO OR MORE texts you have studied for this topic: (i) literary experimentation; (ii) subversive strategies adopted by characters or authors; (iii) the theme of language or communication; (iv) the questioning of sexual conventions; (v) the boundary between history and fiction.
(d) ‘Es un mito pensar que la dictadura es una reacción “natural” a la inestabilidad social o política de un país. Casi siempre hay fuertes elementos de lucha ideológica y de intervención geopolítica.’ Discuss.
6 Labyrinths of Fiction
Answer ONE of the following with reference to TWO OR MORE texts or films:
(a) ‘These texts throw our understanding of reality on its head: “reality”, they suggest, is a labyrinthine illusion produced by complex systems of belief in which we are irrevocably trapped.’ Discuss.
(b) ‘Para los artistas de este género, la ficción es mentira, pero es una mentira vital, sin la cual no podríamos vivir.’ Discuss.
(c) Discuss the role of THREE of the following in TWO OR MORE texts or films you have studied for this topic: (i) monsters or doubles; (ii) repetition; (iii) masks, theatre or carnival; (iv) mythology or religion; (v) chance or fatality.
(d) ‘¿Por qué nos inquieta que el mapa esté incluido en el mapa y las mil y una noches en el libro de Las mil y una noches? ¿Por qué nos inquieta que don Quijote sea lector del Quijote y Hamlet, espectador de Hamlet?’ (Jorge Luis Borges). Discuss.
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