| CODE | SLA3012 | ||||||
| TITLE | Cervantes and Don Quixote in Literary History | ||||||
| UM LEVEL | 03 - Years 2, 3, 4 in Modular Undergraduate Course | ||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 6 | ||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 4 | ||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Spanish and Latin American Studies | ||||||
| DESCRIPTION | This study-unit will survey Cervantes’s Don Quixote. Students will read a selection of chapters that exemplify some of Don Quixote’s main themes and aesthetic features that are germane to current issues in Cervantes studies. This unit will begin with an overview of different theories of the novel and with an introduction to sixteenth-century Spanish fiction. It will present Cervantes’s fiction from Galatea to Persiles and Sigismunda, understanding Don Quixote as one in the series of the author’s works. Our reading of Don Quixote will concentrate on the following central issues – the critical debates on its place in Western Literature as perhaps the first modern novel; its relation to Menippean satire; its depiction of Imperial Spain and, more generally, of Early Modern European society. Study-unit Aims: - To provide an insight into the complexities of Cervantes’s Don Quixote and into its relevance in Spanish letters and in World Literatures. - To introduce students to some of the main theories of the novel (e.g., Frye, Bakhtin, Watt, Auerbach, etc). - To explain the development of Spanish fiction during the sixteenth century and to understand Don Quixote as a result of those developments. - To describe the formal characteristics of Don Quixote. - To describe the so-called “Quixotic myth”. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Be conversant with the main theories of the novel and able to apply them in their study of texts; - Asses and interpret the modernity of some sixteenth-century Spanish narratives as a result of developments in literary experimentation and of the geopolitical context; - Discriminate between different forms of fiction (mainly novel vs. romance) in Early Modern literature; - Define the relevance of Cervantes’s works in Early Modern literature; - Identify the Quixotic myth in Cervantes’s works and generally in World Literature. 2. Skills By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Identify the main features of the novel and the romance in Early Modern fiction; - Apply the main theories of the novel to the study of Early Modern fiction; - Critique Don Quixote in the context of Cervantes’s works and of sixteenth-century Spanish and European literatures; - Formulate informed hypothesis on the philosophical depth of Don Quixote; - Appraise Cervantes’s works in relation to its impact on later authors. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Main Text - Cervantes, Miguel de, Don Quixote (any edition) Supplementary Texts - Allen, John Jay, Don Quixote: Hero or Fool? Remixed, Newark, Juan de la Cuesta, 2006. - Cascardi, Anthony, “‘Comi-tragedia’ in Cervantes: Don Quixote and the Genealogy of the ‘Funny Book’”, CIEFL Bulletin, 15-16, 2005-2006, 19-37. - Childers, William, Transnational Cervantes, Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 2006. - Close, Anthony J., A Companion to Don Quixote, Londres, Tamesis, 2008. - Cruz, Anne J., “The pícaro meets Don Quixote: the Spanish Picaresque and the Origins of the Modern Novel”, in Jenny Mander (ed.), Remapping the Rise of the European Novel, Oxford, Voltaire Foundation, 2007, 127-138. - Egginton, William, The Man Who Invented Fiction. How Cervantes Ushered in the Modern World, Nueva York, Bloomsbury, 2016. - Garrido Ardila, J. A., “A Concise Introduction to the History of the Spanish Novel”, in J. A. Garrido Ardila (ed.), A History of the Spanish Novel, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2015, 1-52. - Garrido Ardila, J. A., “The Influence and Reception of Cervantes in Britain, 1607-2005”, en J. A. Garrido Ardila (ed.), The Cervantean Heritage. The Influence and Reception of Cervantes in Britain, Oxford, Modern Humanities Research Association, 2009, 2-31. - Lo Ré, Anthony G., “The Three Deaths of Don Quixote: Comments in Favor of the Romantic Critical Approach”, Cervantes: Bulletin of the Cervantes Society of America, 9.2, 1989, 21-41. - McKeon, Michael (ed.), Theory of the Novel, Baltimore, Johns Hopkings University Press, 2000. - Reed, Walter L., “The Problem of Cervantes in Bakhtin’s Poetics”, Cervantes: Bulletin of the Cervantes Society of America, 7.2, 1987, 29-37. |
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| ADDITIONAL NOTES | The language of instruction is English. Students can follow this study-unit without having any knowledge of Spanish. Pre-Requisite Qualifications: Courses in (any) Literature to level UG 02 |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture and Seminar | ||||||
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| LECTURER/S | Juan Antonio Garrido Ardila |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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