ROML 296 - Spring-Term Topics in Romance Languages

Credits: 4
Planned Offering: Spring

Prerequisites vary by topic. Nature and content of the course is determined by the interests of the instructor(s) and student(s). May be repeated for degree credit if the topics are different. Staff. Offered when interest is expressed and departmental resources permit.

Spring 2013 topic:

ROML 296: Spring-Term Topics in Romance Languages: Carmen and Her Incarnations (4). No prerequisites. Open to all, taught in English. This seminar examines a major archetype of Western culture: the mythical character Carmen, from the short story by Prosper Merimee (1945) to her reincarnations on the Opera stage (Bizet’s Carmen, 1875) and in film. We study the stereotype of the gypsy in Europe, in literature (Merimee, Cervantes, Victor Hugo, and Pushkin), and the representation of the gypsy in European art. Particular attention is given to the fourth chapter of Carmen, and anthropological/sociological report on gypsies, subsequently added by Merimee. Exploring this construct of the “disturbing other”, the course then traces Carmen’s avatars in opera (Bizet, Rachmaninov) and film (Preminger’s Carmen Jones, Carlos Saura’s and Antonio Gades’s Carmen, Godard’s Carmen). In addition to lectures by the professor and guest speakers, the class is run principally as a seminar, with research conducted by students working in small groups. It culminates in a dossier on Carmen reflecting the collective synthesis of our findings. No knowledge of French, Spanish or Russian is necessary, although speakers of foreign languages are encouraged to work on primary sources in the original text. (HL) Frégnac-Clave.