Spanish 4344/5344
Syllabus - Cuban History and its Literary Representations

Blacksburg (CRN #14929/ CRN #14934)
5:00-6:15 PM TR 327 Major Williams Hall
Spring 2007

J.C. Ulloa Professor
Office: 337 Major Williams Hall
Office Hours: 2:30-3:30 PM TR and by appointment
Phone: 540-231-8314
Email: julloa@vt.edu

COURSE DESCRIPTION: Cuban narrative of the second part of the twentieth century has demonstrated an innovative hybrid quality that is based upon fiction's manipulation of the historic. Cabrera Infante, Severo Sarduy, Reinaldo Arenas, Miguel Barnet and other internationally known Cuban writers have embedded selected historical texts--biographies, textbooks, documents--into their fictional creations. By carefully inserting these historical materials in specific pages of their novels, these authors create adulterated texts grounded in earlier events but with decidedly new perspectives. This course will systematically explore the ways in which the authors of these texts manipulate official versions of Cuban history in order to craft their heterogeneous narratives (3H, 3C).

COURSE PREREQUISITE: Graduate status or, for undergraduates, satisfactory completion of a 4000-level literature course or prior consent from the instructor

COURSE PROCEDURE: To carry out the analysis of textual borrowings and alterations, we will compare possible historical sources with the texts being analyzed. First we will study the relationship between the novels and their possible antecedents, and then we will try to discover how these narratives transform or rewrite portions of specific historical texts. The course will be conducted in Spanish and requires active class participation.

TEXTS:
Barnet, Miguel. Biografía de un cimarrón (selections)

___. La canción de Rachel

Cabrera Infante, Guillermo. Vista del amanecer en el trópico
 
Méndez Capote. Renée. Memorias de una cubanita que nació con el siglo

Novás Calvo, Lino “Nadie a quien matar”

___ . “La noche de Ramón Yendía”

Students will also read excerpts from the following texts: (BP: Bibliografía paralela):

1. Alvarez Borland, Isabel. Cuban-American Literature of Exile. From Person to Persona. Charlottesville: The U of Virginia, Press 1998
2. Aroca, Santiago. Fidel Castro: el final del camino. Barcelona: Planeta, 1992.
3. La Enciclopedia Cubana. Madrid: Enciclopedia y Clásicos Cubanos, Inc., 1974
4. Geyer, Georgie Anne. Guerilla Prince. The Untold Story of Fidel Castro. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1991.
5. Pérez. Louis A. On Becoming Cuban: Identity, Nationality, and Culture. Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina Press 1999.
6. ____. Cuba: Between Reform and Revolution. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
7. Pérez-Firmat, Gustavo. My Own Private Cuba. Essays on Cuban Literature and Culture. Cuban Literary Studies. Boulder (Colorado): The Society of Spanish and Spanish-American Studies, 1999.
8. Snorkaloff, Pamela M. Cuban Writers on and off the Island. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1999.
9. White, Hayden. Tropics of Discourse. Baltimore: The John Hopkins U Press, 1978.

CHRONOLOGIES:
"Political Chronology." (Pérez, Cuba: Between Reform and Revolution 407-424)
"Chronology: Selected Authors, Works, and Historical Events since 1900" (Snorkaloff xiii - xxiii)

LINKS:
http://www.cubanet.org

ASSESSMENT MEASURES:

Students are expected to conduct research using Virginia Tech`s computer-stored catalogs and online databases, such as the MLA International Bibliography and First Search. They should pay particular attention to searching according to Boolean logic, which usually renders excellent results.

Oral and written reports: Student must provide their classmate with a one-page detailed outline of their oral communications. The oral presentation itself shouldn't take more than 10 minutes. The written version, which should be handed in no more than a week after the oral presentation, will consist of 3-4 pages in length. All assignments must typed and written in Spanish. They must follow the current MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers.

HONOR CODE: The class is conducted in strict observance of the Honor Code. All work must be pledged.

CONTENTS:

Return to the Cuban Literature (Spanish 4984) web site.