Duration
30h Th
Number of credits
Lecturer
Language(s) of instruction
French language
Organisation and examination
Teaching in the first semester, review in January
Schedule
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents
This course provides a general panorama and chronological overview of Spanish literature from its origins to the present day. Lectures will be illustrated by reading and commentary upon extracts from representative publications (in either French translation or in bilingual editions).
At the end of the course, you should have acquired knowledge relating to the history of Spanish literature, which will enable you to read some masterpieces, as we will do in the second term. It is in fact necessary to familiarise oneself with, for example, the clichés of books on chivalry before inquiring what is at stake in Don Quijote de la Mancha, or to have read a popular novel in order to better understand the Federico Garcia Lorca's aesthetic bet. However this is not only a preparatory course: you will be able to discover, among other things, that the code for expression used in the most modern hit songs dates back to more than seven centuries; some fables that we have grown up with have their origins in the East and were imported to Europe through Spain; that the monks of the Middle Ages were not always wise; that the playwright Lope de Vega in the XVII century set the rules which are still in force in Hollywood cinema; that romanticism is above all a highly political movement, etc.
Command of Spanish is an indispensable pre-requisite for reading the Hispanic classics. Other courses offered by the Spanish Department of the University of Liège will allow you in a few months to start reading complex texts, using a dictionary. This History of Literature will sometimes be given in French because, on the one hand the vast majority of students still have a rudimentary grasp of Spanish and, on the other, we will be reading and commenting upon texts which date from several centuries ago. However, even using a translation, we will need some historical information and several analytical categories to be able to produce a coherent and commended interpretation of Spanish texts published before the 21st century.
This course is therefore, somewhat untraditional: lectures providing a broad introduction to the subject, during which the lecturer will provide definitions and historical information. However, students should also prepare in advance each chapter of the course notes.
Learning outcomes of the learning unit
By the end of this course, you should be able to:
- recognise the most widespread or historically important poetic forms of Spanish literature: sonnet, lira, romance, cuaderna vía, etc.
- chronologically place (albeit approximately) some Spanish literary genres. For example: when did the Picaresque novel really take off? And when was naturalism introduced to Spain?
- produce brief stylistic commentaries and be able to comment on the form of literary texts.
- know around ten important dates in the history of Spanish literature (marked with an asterisk in the syllabus), and the events associated with them.
- appreciate the nuances between the definitions of some literary terms.
Prerequisite knowledge and skills
Daily practising in reading and writting, even if it is in French. General knowledge of political History and art History.
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
Reading selections and literary works from Spanish literature (with French translation).
Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning)
Course is given in French. Flipped classroom.
Recommended or required readings
A syllabus containing course notes and an anthology of texts will be made available over the internet.
Complementary bibliography/ Reference works (excerpt):
- Dictionnaire des genres et notions littéraires, Paris: Albin Michel, 2001 (2e éd.).
- Carlos ALVAR / José-Carlos MAINER / Rosa NAVARRO : Breve historia de la literatura española, Madrid : Alianza Editorial, 1997.
- Jacques BEYRIE / Robert JAMMES : Histoire de la littérature espagnole d'expression castillane, Paris : PUF, 1994.
- Jean CANAVAGGIO (dir.) : Histoire de la littérature espagnole,Paris : Fayard, 1993, 2 vols.
- Jean DESCOLA : Histoire littéraire de l'Espagne. De Sénèque à García Lorca, Paris : Fayard, 1966.
Assessment methods and criteria
Written exam.
Work placement(s)
Organizational remarks
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Contacts
Álvaro CEBALLOS VIRO Département de Langues et Littératures Romanes Place Cockerill, 3/5 (A2) - 4000 Liège Tel. : 04 366 53 89 E-mail : A.CeballosViro@uliege.be
Adaptation of teaching commitments following the COVID-19 pandemic for the May-June 2020 session
Teaching methods implemented : distance-learning
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Adaptation of teaching commitments following the COVID-19 pandemic for the Aug-Sept 2020 session
Assessment subjects
Assessment methods
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Contacts
Items online
Online Notes
Notes available on eCampus.