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Picaros, Prostitutes, and Peasants: Representations of the Underclass in Early Modern Spain (HISP 128)

Syllabus, Spring 2015

Through the lenses of gender,social class, ethnicity, and religion, we will read three major works of early modern Spain: a picaresque novel; a play; and a dialogue. Together these texts allow for a serious consideration of matters of social justice, equity, and civic discourse and process. In La Celestina(Fernando de Rojas);Lazarillo de Tormes (anonymous); and El alcalde de Zalamea (Pedro Calderón de la Barca), the characters show acute awareness of their disadvantaged social positionalities. In different ways, the texts deal with poverty; Jewish, Muslim, and Christian identities; corruption in the Catholic Church; slavery; prostitution; gender violence; aging; and oppressions of women and men in patriarchy.

Aswe engage with foundational Hispanic literary traditions, wewilldevelop an understanding of early modern social conditions of and cultural attitudes toward marginalized populations. We will read secondary literature expanding on historical and social contexts to gain the tools to consider the wider implications of privation and privilege in early modern Spain that, it is hoped, students will be able to apply thoughtfully to other contexts.

Prof. Dian Fox

103 Shiffman, x63203

e-mail:

Hours: Tuesday, 2:00-4:00; Friday, 2:00-3:00; and by appointment

Texts

Available at the Bookstore

  • Fernando de Rojas,La Celestina(Cátedra)
  • La vida de Lazarillo de Tormes y de sus fortunas y adversidades (Castalia,ed. Blecua)

On LATTE (“LAT”)

  • Pedro Calderón de la Barca, El alcalde de Zalamea
  • secondary reading

Grades:

attendance and participation20%

LATTE posts10%

short paper10%

exams20%

final project40% (proposal 5%; presentation 10%; research paper 25%)

This course is an elective for the Medieval and Renaissance Studies Program. For further information, please contact the Program Chair, Prof. Jonathan Decter, .

Please Note: If you are a student with a documented disability on record at Brandeis University and wish to have a reasonable accommodation made for you in this class, please see me immediately.

I. Attendance and Participation (20% of semester grade)

Active participation is expected for every class meeting--asking questions, commenting, responding to others’ questions and comments, etc. Also, as a general rule, your grade for participation drops in proportion to unexcused absences. Illness and family emergencies are the only legitimate reasons for missing class. Normally, planned events are not considered emergencies.

When you must miss class, it is your responsibility to find out what you missed and what the assignment is for the next meeting. You should consult a fellow student in the class for this information (we exchange contact information on the first day of the semester). If you would like clarification on any point, however, I will be happy to speak with you.

It is a good idea to let me know if your absence will extend for several class periods; please use e-mail.

Lecture attendance: Students may earn extra credit for attendance and participationby attending Hispanic Studies or Medieval and Renaissance Studies public lectures during the semester and writing a one-page summary of the principal points, to turn in by or before the following class meeting. If you attend a lecture at which I am present and you ask a question, you will receive the same extra credit without having to write up anything. I will announce lectures as information about them becomes available.

II. Written Work:

A. LATTE Posts(10% of semester grade)

Fifteen classes on the Programadel Semestre are starred. For at least nine of those fifteen(you choose which ones) you will post on LATTE (hereafter, “LAT”),by 8 pm the night before the class meets, a comment or question for discussion. The options for posting are

  1. a short paragraph commenting on an aspect of one or more of the next day’s readings; or
  2. one or more questions (for clarification or to provoke discussion) on one (or more) of the next day’s readings

Students are required to read all posts before each class session. This will help stimulate and focus our discussion. When you post, you should also be prepared to discuss your topic in class.

The first post is due by January 19and you must have completed four posts by February 26. You must have completed all nineposts by April 16.

NB: Because the purpose of the posts is to stimulate thought and discussion about the next day’s assignment, no late posts will be accepted.

B. Papers

Standards: Papers normally receive two grades, one for content and one for form. An example of a grade on a paper is “B+/C.”

“Content” means originality, intelligence, depth, consistency, persuasiveness of your argument, and accuracy of the details; and whether you followed the instructions.

  • An “A” grade denotes an excellent argument, beyond the obvious, developed in logical steps from the beginning to a persuasive conclusion, one I’d want to tell my colleagues about;
  • “B” is good but obvious, or with some problems in accuracy, consistency, or logic, etc.;
  • “C” is mediocre, showing inadequate thought or effort;
  • “D” falls far short in all areas;
  • “F” is unacceptable

“Form” means grammar, spelling, style, etc. The grades may also be affected by your satisfactory or unsatisfactory completion of the Self-Editing Guide.

Revisions

You may revise the first paper and the research proposal to improve the form grade, up to a maximum of one full point. The official grade will be calculated as the average of the two grades after revision, and may also be affected by your satisfactory or unsatisfactory completion of the Self-Editing Guide.

Use of a Spanish spell-and-grammar checker is mandatory. Foreign language spell-checkers are installed on all computers in Brandeis clusters.

Late Papers

Most students are able successfully to meet deadlines. The few who fail to turn in assigned work by the deadline have the advantage over the rest of the class of extra time to consider and compose their papers. Out of fairness to the others, grading standards for late work will be higher than for papers that arrive on time. Correspondingly, late papers will be penalized by 1/3 of a grade for every weekday the work is late. For example, an A/B paper due Monday that arrives Wednesday will receive B+/C+.

Please note: Late papers will be exempted from the above rule only when they are accompanied by a written note from a doctor, a dean, or your parents indicating that you have been unable to complete the assignment on time due to illness or some kind of an emergency.

III. Maintenance of Academic Integrity

Academic integrity is central to the mission of educational excellence at BrandeisUniversity. Each student is expected to turn in work completed independently, except when assignments specifically authorize collaborative effort. It is not acceptable to use the words or ideas of another person without proper acknowledgment of that source. This means that you must use footnotes and quotation marks to indicate the source of any phrases, sentences, paragraphs or ideas found in published volumes, on the Internet, or created by another student.

Violations of University policies on academic integrity, described in Section 3 of Rights and Responsibilities, may result in failure in the course or on the assignment, and could end in suspension from the University. If you are in doubt about the instructions for any assignment in this course, you must ask for clarification.

Programatentativo del semestre

Semana 1 / m 13 enero
v 16 / Introducción
*Lectura: La vida de Lazarillo de Tormes [LdT], Prólogo-Tratado 1o
2 / m20
v 23 / *LdT 2
artículo de Vollendorf(LAT)
fecha límite del primer post
*LdT3-4
3 / m 27
v 30 / *LdT 5-7; Prólogo
entregar y comentar ensayo
4 / m 3 feb
v 6 / artículos de Cruz, Fra Molinero, Ardila (LAT)
*Alcalde de Zalamea I
5 / m 10
v 13 / *Alcalde 2-3
consulta
vacaciones
6 / m 24
v 27 / La leyenda del Alcalde de Zalamea
reseña de la película;
*releer Alcalde
fecha límite del cuarto post
7 / m 3 marzo
v 6 / artículos de García Martín, Archer
repaso
Examen
8 / m 10
v 13 / * La Celestina 82-104
*Celestina 1; artículo 2 de Cruz (LAT)
9 / m 17
v 20 / * Celestina 2-4
* Celestina5-9 y Prólogo
10 / m 24
v 27 / * Celestina 10-14
* Celestina 15-18; artículo de Nirenberg (LAT)
11 / m 31 / consulta; propuesta + SEG
vacaciones
12
13 / m 14 abril
v17
m 23
v 24 / * Celestina 19-21
* Celestina: controversias y conclusiones; repaso
fecha límite del NOVENO post
examen
marcha de investigaciones
m 28 / marcha de investigaciones; consideraciones finales
j30 abril 12:00 mediodía / trabajoescrito final + SEG