Gwybodaeth Modiwlau

Module Identifier
SP20010
Module Title
The Spanish Avant-Garde
Academic Year
2025/2026
Co-ordinator
Semester
Semester 2
Exclusive (Any Acad Year)
Reading List

Course Delivery

 

Assessment

Assessment Type Assessment length / details Proportion
Semester Assessment Textual commentary / analysis  (800 - 1,000 words)  40%
Semester Assessment Written Essay  1500 Words  60%
Supplementary Assessment Textual commentary / analysis  (800 - 1,000 words)  40%
Supplementary Assessment Written Essay  1500 Words  60%

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this module students should be able to:

Demonstrate awareness of key trends in early-twentieth century Spanish literature, artistic practice and culture.

Demonstrate a critical understanding of selected practitioners’ work.

Identify key aspects, devices and characteristics of the works / practices studied.

Analyse and interpret textual and visual material.

Engage in meaningful discussions and debate issues related to the course.

Formulate and articulate their own analytical thinking.

Assimilate and evaluate the work of selected critics.

Identify and use relevant subject-specific electronic and library resources.

Present their ideas in a clear and coherent manner both orally and in writing.

Brief description

This module will introduce students to the avant-garde in its Hispanic context via an exploration of a wide variety of media, including film, the plastic arts, drama, performance and poetry. Students will explore the origins of the Spanish avant-garde as well as its relationship to the wider national and transnational cultural context. Students will have the opportunity to explore influential people, works and movements, including female practitioners, as well as the early work of such figures as Lucía Sánchez Saornil, Salvador Dalí, Federico García Lorca, Maruja Mallo and Rafael Alberti.

Content

This module will cover the following areas: changing identities in the early C20th; sin-sombrerismo, the flâneur and flânerie; distortion and the grotesque; el esperpento; lo cinemático; dynamism, multiplicity and fragmentation; Futurism, Ultraísmo and Creacionismo; the female vanguard and the modern woman; the popular and neo-casticismo; Surrealism in its Spanish context; the Paris Connection.

Module Skills

Skills Type Skills details
Communication Workshopping and other learning activities in class, plus BB forum and in-class discussions. Students will be expected to engage in class discussions and to communicate their ideas both orally and in written tasks.
Improving own Learning and Performance Students will be provided with workshopping opportunities to help them to formulate their ideas and start to analyse texts/works and write.
Information Technology Use of BB, video/audio and web-based material.
Personal Development and Career planning ​Development of communication, problem-solving and analytical skills. Development of intercultural awareness.
Problem solving Work in class and at home. Students will be provided with guidance in developing the skills to analyse texts/works and to apply these to tackle textual difficulties.
Research skills Use of BB and other sites. Students will be set a number of small research-related tasks in preparation for class to help them develop these skills. Students will be expected to apply the skills learnt in their assessed work.
Subject Specific Skills Students will expand their knowledge of Spanish language and culture throughout the module and will be expected to demonstrate this knowledge acquisition and application in their assessed pieces.
Team work Group work and BB forum discussions. Students will be expected to work in groups on the analysis of certain works and to share their work with the wider group. Students will also be encouraged to respond to peer input.

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 5