Studies in Peninsular Literature and Culture

Catalog description

This repeatable course explores the cultures of Spain through a thematic or conceptual focus. Students critically analyze authentic documents through, for example, historical, biographical, filmic, artistic, literary, musical, and theoretical perspectives, while improving and expanding their language skills. FALL 2025: This course explores the complex relationship between literature, film, and authoritarian rule during Francisco Franco's fascist dictatorship (1939-1975). We will examine how writers and filmmakers navigated censorship, repression, and propaganda, analyzing texts that either reinforced the regime's ideology or subtly resisted it. Through an interdisciplinary approach, students will critically engage with both state-sanctioned and subversive works to understand how culture functioned as a tool for both control and defiance. We will also investigate the aesthetics of fascist representation, the manipulation of historical narratives, and the emergence of underground and exile literature. By the end of the course, students will gain a deeper understanding of how cultural production shapes and reflects political realities in authoritarian contexts. Prerequisite: 82-345