Cuentos cortos del Gran Caribe

Catalog description

This course examines the short story as a literary and material form in the Spanish-speaking Caribbean, a region that runs from the north in the Greater Antilles (Cuba, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico), to the west along the Yucatán Peninsula, through the Central American isthmus, and culminating east towards the Caribbean coasts of Colombia and Venezuela. How have shared historical conditions, such as colonial slavery, imperial rivalries, modern underdevelopment and the legacies of the plantation, shaped the short story in its formal composition and material circulation? How has it in turn relied on form and medium to tackle the most pressing issues facing the Caribbean at different moments in time? Students will be asked to explore these questions through a diverse corpus, which will include colonial poetry and crónicas, the "little magazines" of the 20th-century, and contemporary cartonera books. In addition, students will develop their digital competencies by collaborating throughout the semester on the creation of a digital archive about the history and scope of the short story in the Hispanic Caribbean Basin. The course is taught in Spanish. Pre-requisite: 200-level Spanish course or permission of instructor