ENG 380 – Topics in Literature

Latin American Literature during the 20th century

Spring 2020

Instructors’ name: Hugo Salas

E-mail address: Hugo.Salas@pepperdine.edu
Office hours: By appointment only.

Course description:

The course aims at providing students with an overview of Latin American literature by
studying the work of some of Latin America’s most renowned writers. The course will ask
students to engage in a detailed exploration of texts with the purpose of analysing the
different authors’ styles, identifying their main themes and establishing common traits
among all the authors studied. The course will thus attempt a definition of what
characterises Latin American literature.

In order to achieve the aims mentioned above, the students will be asked to conduct a
thorough analysis of the texts of each author in order to identify their theme, their tone and
salient technical aspects (voice, point of view, imagery, etc.) They will also be expected to
integrate each text into the world of each of the authors and into the wider world of Latin
American literature. A frame of literary theory will be suggested to guide and enrich the
process of analysis.

Through the analysis of Latin American texts and their posterior discussion, the course will
hopefully foster a greater empathy with the concerns and realities of another culture,
widening the scope of the students’ literary and human experience. The course will thus
allow the students to reflect about issues which transcend the boundaries of their own
country and which, due to their universality, establish the need to view such issues as part
of a reality that affects the whole of mankind.

Class meeting times: Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 2 PM

All reading materials will be provided by the instructor at the beginning of the course.

Learning outcomes:

A student who successfully completes ENG 380 should be able to:

• Demonstrate knowledge of the Latin American writers chosen for the course: their
background and major concerns as Latin American writers of their times.
• Comment closely on the texts given and show personal response in their work.
• Show proficient understanding of how language works.
• Develop critical thinking, research, discussion, and presentation skills.
• Explain the way that literature reflects and forms spiritual, moral, and ethical values.
• Demonstrate a basic understanding of the concept and practice of literary research.

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Mission Statement:

The course focuses on the multiple responses that Latin American writers produced to the
great changes in daily life and experience occurred broadly during the 19th and the 20th
century usually known as “modernity” –cities, industry, masses and new means of
existence. This will allow the students to reflect about the way in which general
transformations in history affect specific cultures, as well as the fact that each culture deals
with them in its own terms, nevertheless acknowledging their quest pertains to the whole of
mankind, insofar as the crisis of meaning in the secularized world has yet found no answer.
Thus the course will hopefully stress questions of great Christian value such as the
importance of re-defining the core values of tolerance, understanding and love for each
other in a context that seems rather changing and unpredictable.

Content outline

The course will focus in key Latin American writers whose work has proven a major
influence on literature and ideas during the 20th century. The sequencing of the content will
be chronological. The course aims both at teaching and exploring recurrent themes in each
of the writers included and aspects of style in their work, as well as grasping that a writer’s
work is not only the product of his or her own mind, but also of the time in which it is
written. It also aims at bettering the students’ analytical skills as far as literary study is
concerned.

UNIT 1: MODERNISM AND THE TURN OF THE CENTURY

Rubén Darío: poems from Azul (1890), Prosas Profanas y otros poemas (1896) and
Cantos de vida y esperanza (1905); “The Hymn to Gold” (short-story).
José Martí: poems from Versos libres (posthumous, 1913) and Versos sencillos (1891);
“Coney Island” (chronicle; fragment).
Delmira Agustini: poems from El libro blanco (1907), Cantos de la mañana (1910) and
Los cálices vacíos (1913).

UNIT 2: HOW TO GET AWAY FROM MODERNISM? AVANT GARDE AND OTHER RESPONSES

César Vallejo: poems from Trilce (1922) and Poemas humanos (posthumous).
Gabriela Mistral: poems from Desolación (1922), Ternura (1924) y Poema de Chile
(posthumous, 1967).
Neruda: poems from Residencia en la tierra (1935), Tercera residencia (1947), Canto
General (1950) and Odas elementales (1954).

UNIT 3: NEOBAROQUE

José Lezama Lima: poems from La fijeza (1949) and Fragmentos a su imán (1978).
Virgilio Piñera: “The Weight of the Island” from La vida entera (1969).
Octavio Paz: poems from Días hábiles (1958-1961), Vuelta (1969-1975) and Árbol
Adentro (1976-1987)

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 Nicanor Parra: poems from Poemas and antipoemas (1954), Otros poemas (1969) and
Hojas de parra (1985).
Elena Garro: “It’s the fault of the tlaxcaltecas” (short-story, 1964).
Miguel Ángel Asturias: short-stories “Portico” and “Anteater Juan” from El espejo de
Lida Sal (1967)
Gabriel García Márquez: short’stories “Big Mama’s Funneral” from Los funerales de la
mama grande (1962) and “Death Constant Beyond Love” from La increíble y triste
historia de la Cándida Eréndida y su abuela desalmada (1968).

UNIT 4: END OF THE CENTURY AND BEYOND

Roberto Bolaño: poems from The Romantic Dogs (1995), short-story “Phone Calls”
from Llamadas telefónicas (1997) and “The Private Life of a Novelist” from Entre
paréntesis (posthumous, 2004).
Edmundo Paz Soldán: short-stories “Faulkner” from Norte (2013) and “Artificial” from
Las visiones (2016).

Grading & Assignments:

Grades will be assigned as follows:
Class participation/attendance 10%
Presentations 10%
Individual Test 1 20%
Individual Test 2 20%
Individual Test 3 20%
Final paper 20%

Your grades will be determined on the following scale: A = 94-100, A- = 90-93, B+ = 87-
89, B = 84-86, B- = 80-83, C+ = 77-79, C = 74-76, C- = 70-73, D+ = 67-69, D = 64-66, D-
= 60-63, F = 59 and below

CLASS PARTICIPATION/ACTIVITIES/ATTENDANCE: 10%

There will be a series of in-class activities that involve group work, work in pairs and
discussion. It is important that all students attend class on time and come prepared to
participate as fully as possible. This includes reading the texts previously required. The use
of cell phones in class will automatically reduce 1 point in this section EACH TIME
that it occurs. Even if internet access is not necessary for all the stages, computers are a
necessary tool throughout the course. See Attendance Policy above.
ATTENDANCE POLICY: The attendance policies standardized by the International
Programs Office apply to this course. Students have a total number of absences of any kind
equal to the unit value of the course you are taking. Any other absence will lower their
final grade one step. If a class is missed immediately prior or immediately after the
weekend, holiday or long travel weekend, the absence will count double. More than 4
absences will negatively affect your grade. After the fifth one (whatever the reason), 0.5 of
the final grade will be deducted. Failure to attend class regularly will result in suspension
from the program. There are no “excused” absences.

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Please arrive to class on time. Arriving late to class counts as half an absence. Leaving
class early is not allowed except under extreme circumstances
Please note that if you are absent, it is your responsibility to find out about the material
covered in class, as well as the assignments for the next class by communicating with a
classmate.

PRESENTATIONS: 10%
Each student will be assigned two 10-minute in-class presentations during the semester.
These are planned as paired/group activities. The first presentation is based in the
biography of one of the authors from units 1-3. The second will be a presentation of the
goup’s interpretation of one of the narrative texts from unit 3. At the end of the
presentations, the groups are to submit a one page typed report on their presentation. Oral
presentations will be considered incomplete if a report is not turned in.

INDIVIDUAL TESTS: 60% (20% EACH)

Three test will be given, covering the contents of the first three units of this syllabus, on
dates February, 17th (Unit 1), March 9th (Unit 2), and March, 30th (Unit 3).

FINAL PAPER: 20%

The final paper is due April 22nd, 1 PM. It must be sent by email prior the deadline. Papers
sent in late will receive a lower grade. It is to be minimum 8 pages long (typed, double
spaced, 12 font new Times Roman, one inch margins). Details about the final project will
be discussed in class well before it is due.

Electronics Policy:
Please have the courtesy to turn cell phones completely off before class begins—do not
leave them on vibrate. When laptop computers are not being used for specifically class-
related activities, screens must be lowered or completely closed.
The use of cell phone in class will automatically affect your grade (see “class
participation/attendance”)

Plagiarism Policy: Cheating or plagiarism on a test or other assignment will result in

automatic failure on that assignment and possible failure of the course. Pepperdine
University takes the issue of plagiarism very seriously. If you violate this rule, you may
have to appear before the Academic Ethics Committee—a group having the power to
penalize or expel students from the university.

Student Accessibility: Any student with a documented problem of accesibility (physical,

learning, or psychological) needing academic accommodations should contact the Office of
Student Accessibility (Main Campus, Tyler Campus Center 264) as early in the semester as
possible. All discussions will remain confidential. Please visit www.pepperdine.edu/st
udent-accessibility/ for additional information.

Intellectual property: Course materials prepared by the instructor, together with the
content of all lectures and review sessions presented by the instructor, are the property of
the instructor. Video and audio recording of lectures and review sessions without the
consent of the instructor is prohibited. Unless explicit permission is obtained from the

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instructor, recordings of lectures and review sessions may not be modified and must not be
transferred or transmitted to any other person. Electronic devices other than laptops (e.g.,
cell phones, PDAs, calculators, recording devices) are not to be used during lectures or
exams without prior permission of the instructor.

Bibliography

UNIT 1: MODERNISM

Agustini, Delmira. Selected Poetry of Delmira Agustini. Poetics of Eros. Ed. and trans.
Alejandro Cáceres. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2003.
Cooke, S. “Four Melancholic Songs by Rubén Darío”, in Cordite. Poetry Review, Dec.
2013. Available at http://cordite.org.au/translations/cooke-dario/.
Darío, R. Stories and Poems/Cuentos y poesías: A Dual-Language Book. Ed. and trans.
Stanley Appelbaum. Mineola: Dover, 2002.
Martí, J. José Martí Reader. Writings on the Americas. Ed. Deborah Shnookal and Mirta
Muñiz. Melbourne, New York and London: Ocean Press, 2007.
———. Selected Writings. Ed. and trans. Esther Allen. New York: Penguin, 2002.

UNIT 2: AVANT-GARDE

Mistral, G. Selected Poems of Gabriela Mistral. Trans. Ursula K. Le Guin. Albuquerque:

The University of New Mexico Press, 2003.
Neruda, P. Canto General. Trans. Jack Schmitt. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of
California Press, 1991.
——— Conductors of the Pit. Ed. and trans. Clayton Eshelman. Brooklyn: Soft Skull
Press, 2005.
——— Selected Odes of Pablo Neruda. Trans. Margaret Sayers Peden. Berkeley and Los
Angeles: University of California Press, 1990.
——— Selected Poems. Ed. Nathaniel Tarn. Trans. Anthony Kerrigan, W.S. Merwin,
Alastair Reid y Nathaniel Tarn. London: Penguin, 1975.
——— Selected Poems of Pablo Neruda. Ed. and trans. Ben Belitt. New York: Grove,
1961.
Vallejo, C. Neruda and Vallejo: Selected Poems. Ed. and trans. Robert Bly. Boston:
Beacon, 1971.
———. Selected Writings of César Vallejo. Ed. and trans. Joseph Mulligan. Middletown:
Wesleyan, 2015.

UNIT 3: NEOBAROQUE

Asturias, M.A. The Mirror of Lida Sal. Trans. Gilbert Alter-Gilbert. Pittsburgh: Latin
American Literary Review Press, 1997.
García Márquez, G. Collected Stories. Trans. G. Rabassa and J.S. Bernstein. London:
Penguin, 1996.
Garro, E. “It’s the fault of the tlaxcaltecas”. Trans. Patricia Wahl, en RIF/T: An Electronic
Space for Poetry, Prose, and Poetics. Version 2.1, winter 1994. Available at
http://epc.buffalo.edu/rift/rift02/wahl0201.html
Lezama Lima, J. Selections, ed. Ernesto Livon-Grosman. Berkeley: University of

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 California Press, 2005.
Parra, N. Antipoems: New and Selected, ed. David Unger. New York: New Directions,
1985.
——— Antipoems. How to Look Better and Feel Great, trans. Liz Werner. New York:
New Directions, 2004.
Paz, O. The Collected Poems of Octavio Paz, trans. Eliot Weinberger et al. New York:
New Directions, 1990.
Piñera, Virgilio. The Weight of the Island, trans. Pablo Medina. Middletown: Diálogos,
2014.

UNIT 4: END OF THE CENTURY

Bolaño, R. Between Parentheses. Essays, articles and speeches. Trans. Natasha

Wimmer. New York: New Directions, 2011.
———. Last Evenings on Earth. Trans. Chris Andrews. London: Vintage Books, 2008.
———. The Romantic Dogs. Trans. Laura Healy. New York: New Directions,
2008.
Paz Soldán, E. “Artificial”. Trans. Jessica Powell, in Review: Literature and Arts of the
Americas, 48 (1), 2015, pp. 55-59.
———. “Faulkner”. Trans. Kit Maude. The Short Story Project. Available at
http://www.shortstoryproject.com/faulkner/.