The Politics of Romanticism in Spanish American Literature

Catalog description

This course postulates Romanticism as a regime of representation employed by second-generation citizens of the new Latin American republics to organize time-space in post-Independence Spanish America. Through readings of national romances, periodicals, poetry, cuadros de costumbres and travelogues, we will discuss what Romanticism and being Romantic meant for mid-19th-century writers and readers in Spanish America. Weekly readings will be organized around a word from a glossary of Romantic keywords: lengua, pueblo, indio, España, among others. Finally, the course will examine connections between 19th-century Romanticism, 20th century criollismo and Populism.