Golden Age of Spanish Literature

Catalog description

This course is a graduate seminar whose primary focus is the literary production of the Spanish Golden Age, which dates from the second half of the sixteenth century to the end of the seventeenth. Students will analyze works of various genres - autobiography, prose, drama, poetry and the novel - by the most prominent authors of the time, including Teresa of Ávila, John of the Cross, Miguel de Cervantes, Baltasar Gracián, Francisco de Quevedo, Luis de Góngora, Félix Lope de Vega, Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Tirso de Molina and María de Zayas. We will give special attention to the historical, social and cultural context of early modern Spain, and students will gain exposure to the major critical trends and interpretation of Golden Age literature. The authors to be studied confront readers with the complex social fabric of pre-modern Spain and immerse us in the religious and economic realities of the Iberian Peninsula, the Mediterranean world and Europe. Our close reading of the texts will allow us to explore how early modern Spanish writers reflect the spiritual, intellectual and political currents of their time, especially as they shed light upon the network of institutions, practices, and beliefs that constituted Spanish culture.