HISP 414 - Here and There: Superando Límites/Crossing Boundaries

Living an identity that is multipositional is a familiar reality for many people in the 21st century. The seventeenth century in the Hispanic world reveals surprisingly diverse and complex societies in which literature - and sometimes life itself - provided a space for trying on different social clothes, so to speak, in an exploration of early modern identity. This course will allow students to enjoy prose, drama, poetry and historiography from both Spain and Spanish America and to witness how writers from both sides of the Atlantic were pushing aesthetic and societal limits of religion, ethnicity and gender in their writing. We will be viewing Baroque art from Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, and colonial Mexico and Peru, and will also read some pertinent critical perspectives that will help enrich our readings of the literature. To bring the plays to life, students will select fragments of dramas to “rescript” and perform for their classmates. Prerequisites: HISP 307 or permission of instructor. Prerequisite(s): HISP or LATI 307 or permission of instructor. (4 Credits)