SPAN 309 Latin American Writers in Spain

Many Latin American writers have chosen to live in Spain during the twentieth century. This course introduces students to the Latin American tradition of the writer acting as public intellectual or diplomat as well as to instances of the Latin American writer in political exile. Poets Pablo Neruda and César Vallejo chose to live in or near Madrid during the period of the Spanish Civil War whereas a later generation of fiction writers (Gabriel Garcia Marquez Cristina Peri Rossi and Roberto Bolaño) lived in Barcelona after the 1970's. The fiction writers include their own vision of Catalan nationalism and Catalan national identity in various short stories. The course concludes with a three-week stay in Spain that will provide a deeper understanding of the Latin American writers' representation of the coutry. On-site lectures by historians and art-historians will enhance the student's understanding of García Márquez's Peri Rossi's and Bolaño's incorporation of Catalan politics landscapes and cityscapes in their fiction.