Syllabus
Tina Modotti, "Julio Antonio Mella's Typewriter" (1928)
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General:
Class discussion and writing assignments will be in Spanish.
Reading assignments will be in Spanish with a few theoretical texts in
English. The film is in Spanish with English subtitles. All
assignments written outside of class must be typed and double-spaced in
Times 12 font. Any work turned in outside of regular class time should
be left on my door at 869 Ballantine Hall. Prerequisite: Spanish
310.
Required
Texts/Materials:
*You are required to bring the texts we
are discussing to class and have them on hand and ready to go.
1. Email Account and Web Access:
Both an email account and web access are required for this course.
You will be required to check email three times per week since you will
receive emails through our listserve clarifying homework or presentation
information. The course website will provide you with necessary links
that will allow you to complete your work (see #5).
2. Books (2):
Dorfman, Ariel. La muerte y la doncella. Seven Stories
Press.
Esquivel, Laura. Como agua para chocolate. Anchor
Books, Random House.
3. Texts Available on Website:
Most of the course texts will be made available to you on this website.
As we go, download, print and keep these texts with your course materials.
The website will include all of the short stories, some technical discussions,
all of the reading guides, and all poetry. We will begin using this
site immediately, so be sure to visit other pages within it and download
your first reading for Friday, September 2, 2005.
4. Films:
This film will be available for individual viewing in Media/Reserves
at the Main Library one week prior to class discussion. Be sure not
to wait until the last minute to view it, since others from our class will
also be viewing it. It is also available at local video rental stores.
Gutiérrez Alea, Tomás. Fresa y Chocolate (“Strawberries and Chocolate” for rentals)5. Reading and Movie Guides: Course Website
For our assignments involving the web, you can locate the texts at this website. See navigator links at the bottom of each page in this site.
Course Evaluation:
15% Class Participation
10% Oral Presentation
10% Homework (includes Question Guides)
5% Novel Guide
15% Narrative Exam
25% Compositions (2)
20% Final Paper
Class participation: This may be the element most crucial to your interest and therefore, the class's success. Engaged, intellectual participation in class discussion is fundamental both to your understanding and that of your peers. To this end, you should take notes and think critically about the texts before coming to class. You will find that if you bring all of your questions, opinions, and problems to the discussion, we all benefit from them. You will generally be required to have carefully read and prepared anywhere from approximately 10-30 pages per class discussion, depending on the difficulty of the text. By the end of the term, you will be expected to read from 15-50 pages per class discussion.
Attendance: The class
format is driven by class discussion, with very few lectures, therefore
regular class attendance is critical to your success. You may miss
2 classes during the course without penalty, after which, your final grade
will be directly affected for each subsequent absence. These “free”
absences also cover those days where you’re too sick to come to class,
but not enough to go the health center. Please remember that if you
must miss class, you are responsible for both the material covered that
day as well as the work for the following class.
Oral Presentations: Each student will be required to give one 10-minute oral presentation in class. This means that each presenter will be prepared with his/her own topic and reading of the text, and will then follow it up with 2-3 pertinent questions to pose to the class as a springboard for ensuing discussion. Those who are not presenting will be involved in the consideration of the text and should come to class with questions already formulated to pose to all of us as a group as well as to the discussion leader. See Website for guidelines on how to create a successful presentation.
Informes/Compositions:
At the end of the film and poetry sections, you will analyze a work discussed
in class (film) or assigned specifically for the paper (poetry) (see course
schedule for due dates). Your two (2) writing assignments will range
in length from approximately 2-3 pages. These compositions are intended
to be a place for you to reflect on our readings and class discussions,
push beyond what we have talked about in class, and work through issues
you find interesting in the visual and written texts. It will allow
you to pose relevant questions about the texts we discuss, help you work
through your readings in a more coherent way, and provide a space for your
readings to gel. Each paper requires that you analyze, not summarize
or describe the text. Since you will use the same tools on both the
compositions and in your Final Paper, in a very real sense, the short writing
assignments are building blocks. You will receive specific guidelines
for each assignment on our website (see "Informes" page in the navigation
bar below). You may also receive clarifications via email, depending
on the needs of our particular class. See "Informes" page for more
information on how to create a successful composition.
Question Guides: There will be guides and questions available during the term for many of the texts we are reading, some of which will be turned in for a grade. See the "guide" page below for new guides as we progress. You will find them to be helpful in preparing your readings and your discussion interventions; they will give you a sense of how to look at the text, issues I want you to be thinking about, and topics to focus on for the midterm, short writing assignments, and final paper. As we go through the term, you should always consider these part of your homework assignment if they are available, whether or not they are due.
Novel Guide: The novel
is accompanied by a guide you can find on this website (see "guides" below)and
will be turned in for a grade (see Course Evaluation). This guide
will help you move through the novel efficiently yet carefully, and will
help you formulate your reading for the final paper.
Narrative Exam: After completion of the first section on short stories, you will take an exam on narrative techniques and the short stories we’ve studied. We will talk about the specific format as we get closer to the exam.
Final Paper: At the end of
the term, you will analyze a novel, which is the final text we read.
The Final Paper allows you to bring together all the skills you have learned
throughout the term. The requirements for the paper will be listed
on the Website as we get closer to the end of the term, but it will be
5-7 pages long. The due date for the final paper is Monday, December
12, 2005 at 4:30 pm as listed in the Final Exam Schedule for Fall 2005.
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