Module Information

Module Identifier
SP35120
Module Title
Reading Late 19th Century Literature
Academic Year
2024/2025
Co-ordinator
Semester
Semester 1
Pre-Requisite
Reading List
Other Staff

Course Delivery

 

Assessment

Assessment Type Assessment length / details Proportion
Semester Assessment Seminar debates, performance and participation  20%
Semester Assessment Continuous assessment  2 x 2000 word essays (equally weighted)  80%
Supplementary Assessment Resubmit or resit failed elements and/or make good any missing elements  100%

Learning Outcomes

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

1. demonstrate a knowledge and critical understanding of the set texts;
2. locate the set texts in some of the contexts of their production;
3. explain and engage with relevant aspects of recent critical debates about the material studied;
4. produce well organized, coherently argued and critically informed written work;
5. engage in coherent oral discussion of the material studied.

Brief description

This module explores some of the contradictions and anxieties of late nineteenth-century Spanish literature. The students will analyze essays, articles and letters from the period that responded to a particular inquietude caused by social changes, political instability and the last vestiges of the Spanish Empire. The texts studied will present some of the most famous characters and places in Spanish culture, which are representative of developments in Spanish literature of the time. Students will be made aware of the importance of both immanent and transcendent analysis. Some of the authors read in this module are Caballero, Alarcon, Valera, Pereda, Galdos, Clarin, Bazan, Valdes, Blasco Ibanez.

Aims

It provides an understanding of key texts in their historical context and of their impact on the development of literature. It introduces students to the study of language and stylistic features in late nineteenth-century literature and the specific skills associated with it. It also allows students to map Spanish Literature within European cultural movements, such as the rise of the social problem novel, the relationship between religion, philosophy and realism, and the ways in which the novel responded to the problem of God and Woman towards the end of the century.

Content

The module covers five different topics:
1. Introduction: Spain and the social difficulties of late nineteenth century
2. Literature and society: the Realist vision
3. 'Dios y la mujer' in the late 19th century novel
4. 'La novela de tesis' and nature
5. Locus, space and broken habitats

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 6