SPAN 345 - Spanish-American Modernist Poetry

FDR: HL
Credits: 3
Planned Offering: Winter 2012 and alternate years

Prerequisites: SPAN 215 or 275, and SPAN 240. Considered the literary movement that achieves the “linguistic independence” of Latin America from Spain, Modernismo is the first “original aesthetic” which exercises an influence on the poetic production of Europe. This course studies the movement through the poems and works by four of its principal writers: the Nicaraguan Ruben Dario, the Mexican Manuel Gutierrez Najera, the Peruvian Manuel Gonzalez Prada, and the Cuban Jose Marti. By contrasting their literature to the “paradigm of modernity” which surrounded its production, the course distinguishes the dialectics between the artists and their respective geopolitical circumstances. By analyzing the literature of writers from different regions, we visualize and distinguish the divergent modernities which emerged in Latin America during the 19th century and the diverse artistic reactions and consequences. González.