HISP 454 Narrating the Past: The Historical Novel in Spain and Latin

HISP 454 Narrating the Past: The Historical Novel in Spain and Latin

HISP 454
Narrating the Past: The Historical Novel in Spain and Latin America
Many of us prefer to learn about the past through fiction rather than history books. Is the
realist novel a superior mode when it comes to understanding history? How much does
historians’ writing owe to fiction, and what is the novel’s debt to historians’ work? What is the
link between the historical novel, modern historiography, and nationalism? We’ll explore these
and other questions through a selection of outstanding historical novels from 19th and 20thcentury Spain and Latin America.
Spring 2014 | Full Course | 4HU, CD, WADV
Prof. Sebastiaan Faber | Tues/Thurs 11am-12:20pm, 302 Peters
“Seguidores do beato Antônio Conselheiro presos pelas tropas do Exército,
no Arraial de Belo Monte, em Canudos” — Photo Flávio de Barros
Spring 2014
HISP 454 – Narrating the Past: The Historical Novel in Spain and Latin America
Tues/Thurs 11am-12:20pm, 302 Peters
Instructor
Sebastiaan Faber
404 Peters | x58189
[email protected] | www.oberlin.edu/faculty/sfaber
Office hrs: T 1-2pm, W 11am-12pm, Th 2-3pm
The fastest and most efficient way to contact me is via email. You can also leave a message on
my voicemail or with Blanche Villar at x55256, or stick a written note in my box in 301 Peters.
Course Prerequisites
“Any two 300-level courses taught in Spanish normally serve as a prerequisite for admission to
those at the 400 level” (Hispanic Studies Course Catalog).
Required Readings
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Mario Vargas Llosa. La guerra del fin del mundo. Punto de Lectura. ISBN 9788466320146
Javier Cercas. Soldados de Salamina. Any edition in Spanish.
Readings on Blackboard
Course Description
How do we acquire knowledge about the past—remote or recent, of foreign cultures or our
own? And why should we? Is there something called collective memory? What is it that allows
members of groups or peoples to “remember” experiences or events that happened
generations ago but that they still, in some way, recognize as their own? What form do these
memories take, how do they manifest themselves, and where do they reside? What is the
relation between what each of us “remembers” from a possibly shared past, and the
representations that we have come in contact with through stories, films, books,
documentaries, museums, popular culture, and formal education? What drives the desire to
know the past? A sense of duty? Curiosity? Enjoyment? Does knowing the past make us better
people? Are there things to learn from it?
These are the kinds of questions that historians might ask, or that would interest sociologists,
anthropologists, and political scientists. But literary critics have something to add, too. After all,
when it comes to knowing the past most people prefer novels over history books. The fact is
that for the past two or three centuries historical fiction—in a range of different forms,
languages, and media—has had an important social and political role, particularly, but not only,
as a tool for creating national identities.
HISP 454 | Spring 2014 | p. 2
In this seminar we will dedicate the bulk of our time to reading and discussing examples of
historical fiction from Spain and Latin America, ranging from the Romantic historical novel from
the mid-nineteenth century—when the genre became immensely popular—to more recent
texts. Over the first ten weeks’ time, while reading plenty of other things, we’ll tackle a wellknown historical novel from Latin America: La guerra del fin del mundo by Mario Vargas Llosa—
a monumental, riveting account of an improbable, fantastic peasant revolt in 19th-century
Brazil.
While we will focus primarily on texts written in Spanish, we will also consider the transnational
nature of historical fiction, and look at some examples from beyond the Spanish-speaking
world. Throughout the course we will try to unravel the tensions and contradictions inherent in
historical fiction in order to reflect—with the help from critics writing in (or translated into)
English and Spanish—on more fundamentally theoretical issues related to realism, the
representation of the past, and the nature of history.
Some of the main questions we will consider in the course of the semester include the
following:
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What role has historical fiction played in the development of modern nationalism, and
what has the impact of nationalism been on the historical novel?
What is it about historical fiction that has made it so fascinating and popular among two
centuries’ worth of readers? Does historical fiction teach us about the past, enhance our
understanding of our present, or just to offer us an entertaining escape from daily life?
What political role can it play?
How much and what kind of knowledge of the past can historical fiction provide? How
does it differ in this sense from non-fictional accounts? How much does historical nonfiction (i.e., history as an academic, scholarly practice) owe to the techniques and
structures of fictional narrative? And conversely, could the historical novel exist without
the work of academic historians?
This seminar is part of a multi-course, interdisciplinary thematic cluster focused on Realism as a
mode and genre in literature and the arts. As part of this cluster, we will visit the Realism
exhibits at the Allen Memorial Art Museum and have a joint discussion panel with two other
Realism-themed classes in Philosophy and English/Comparative Literature/Cinema Studies
(tentative date and time: April 16, 4:30pm). We will also visit Special Collections in Mudd
Library to peruse Oberlin’s unique collection of popular nineteenth-century historical novels
from Spain; screen several films; and entertain a couple of guests from elsewhere on campus.
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Course objectives
To develop an understanding of:
 the birth and development of historical fiction as a transnational genre;
 the role of the novel in general, and the historical novel in particular, in the formation of
national identities;
 the different theories developed to explain the nature and role of historical fiction, in
particular its capacity to represent the past in a truthful, meaningful, or politically
significant way;
 the complicated relationship between historiography and narrative (whether fictional or
non-fictional);
 the nature and development of historical fiction in Spain and Latin America;
 some major historical events in Latin American and Spanish history as represented in
fiction and historiography.
To (continue to) develop the skills necessary to:
 Read, write, and speak Spanish in an academic or intellectual register;
 Write an academic paper or article in Spanish;
 Think coherently, critically, and theoretically about important questions;
 Conduct formal, thematic, and ideological analyses of films and literary texts.
Course requirements
Students in this class are expected to…
 Attend all class sessions. (Following Department policy, any absence over 3 will lower
the final class grade with 1%.)
 Have read or viewed the assigned texts or films by the day indicated on the syllabus.
 Bring to class type-written answers to the assigned reading or viewing questions for use
in discussion, and hand them in at the end of each class. Typically these reading
questions will be graded as check-plus, check, or check-minus.
 Be prepared actively to participate in class discussion.
 Write two midterm papers (of 4 and 6 pages each), as well as a final paper (8-10 pages),
in both draft and final version.
Evaluation/Final Class Grade
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Attendance and participation: 20%
Reading questions: 20%
Two midterm papers (4 pags/10% and 6 pags/20%): 30%
Final paper (8-10 pags): 30%
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Honor Code
This course and all its assignments are covered by the Oberlin College honor code. This means,
most importantly, that—unless otherwise indicated—you are to produce your own work and
honor the rules and conventions of quotation, attribution, and citation. While you are allowed
to ask advice and help from the instructor, librarians, or official writing tutors, you are, in the
end, to submit work produced by you. Some assignments may be collaborative in nature; those
will be clearly identified as such. Any case of (suspected) plagiarism will be reported to the
Honors Committee. For more details, see http://www.oberlin.edu/studentpolicies/honorcode/
Programa del curso (tentativo)
martes 2/4
Introducción; términos y definiciones (pasado, historia, historiografía, novela,
ficción, representación, memoria); ¿qué sabemos del pasado y cómo lo sabemos?
jueves 2/6
¿Cómo y por qué conocer el pasado? La ficción histórica: origen, función,
problemas
Price, History Made; Shaw, Forms of Historical Fiction
martes 2/11
Historiografía vs. ficción histórica; la historia como disciplina académica; las “reglas
del juego”; discusión con el Prof. Steve Volk
Mario Vargas Llosa, La guerra del fin del mundo (GFM), primeras 90 páginas
White, “Historical Emplotment”; Cohn, “Signposts of fictionality”;
jueves 2/13
Canudos en la historia y la literatura brasileñas
Selección de lecturas históricas sobre Canudos
martes 2/18
El nacimiento de la novela histórica y su significado: las teorías de Lukács,
Anderson y Jameson (conferencia)
GFM 2: primeras 180 páginas (Lecturas de apoyo, optativas: Anderson en McKeon;
Jameson en McKeon; Kellner sobre Jameson; Bannet sobre Lukács; Lukács in
McKeon, “Historical Novel”)
jueves 2/20
La novela histórica en España: La colección en Oberlin (visita a Colecciones
Especiales)
Ferreras, Novela en el S XIX (pp. 29-42, 60-69); otras lecturas (TBA)
martes 2/25
La guerra del fin del mundo como novela histórica
GFM 3 (90 pp.)
HISP 454 | Spring 2014 | p. 5
jueves 2/27
Trabajo individual en el primer ensayo: comparación entre La guerra del fin del
mundo y una novela histórica española del S XIX
Viernes 2/28
Entrega electrónica del primer trabajo (1ª versión)
martes 3/4
Introducción: La Guerra Civil Española y sus representaciones
GFM 4 (90 pp.)
jueves 3/6
Max Aub, Campo del moro (1)
Helen Graham sobre la GCE; Campo del moro selección 1 (10 pp.)
martes 3/11
Visita Isadora Grevan de Carvalho
GFM 5 (90 pp.); entrega del primer trabajo (versión final)
jueves 3/13
Campo del moro (2)
Campo del moro, selección 2 (30 pp.)
martes 3/18
PELICULA GCE
GFM 6 (90 pp.)
jueves 3/20
Soldados de Salamina
Soldados de Salamina 1
***** Vacaciones de Primavera *****
martes 4/1
PELICULA: Land and Freedom (posible visita al museo)
GFM 7-9 (270 pp.)
jueves 4/3
(posible visita al museo)
Soldados de Salamina 2
martes 4/8
Soldados de Salamina
Soldados de Salamina 3
jueves 4/10
PELICULA Das schreckliche Mädchen/The Nasty Girl
Soldados de Salamina 4 (final)
martes 4/15
Discusión: Soldados de Salamina y Das schreckliche Mädchen
HISP 454 | Spring 2014 | p. 6
GFM 9 (90 pp.)
miércoles 4/16
MESA REDONDA SOBRE EL REALISMO
jueves 4/17
Compartir ideas para el segundo trabajo
Entregar un párrafo sobre el segundo trabajo
lunes 4/21
Entrega electrónica del segundo trabajo (primera versión)
martes 4/22
Discusión final: Guerra del Fin del Mundo
GFM 10 (final)
jueves 4/24
PELICULA: Canudos
martes 4/29
Discusión: Canudos, la película
entrega del segundo trabajo (segunda versión); entregar tema y bibliografía
(tentativa) para el trabajo final
jueves 5/1
Hacia el trabajo final
compartir ideas y lecturas secundarias)
martes 5/6
Hacia el trabajo final
Trabajo final (compartir ideas y lecturas secundarias); traer 2 páginas de borrador
jueves 5/8
Resumen y evaluaciones
Entrega del trabajo final (8-10 págs.): 14 de mayo
HISP 454 | Spring 2014 | p. 7