MLT1/SP3

MODERN AND MEDIEVAL LANGUAGES TRIPOS Part IB

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Friday 26 May 2017 9 to 12

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Paper Sp. 3
MEDIEVAL IBERIAN AND SPANISH GOLDEN AGE CULTURE

Answer three questions.

Do not draw substantially on the same material for more than one answer.

STATIONERY REQUIREMENTS SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS

20 Page Answer Book x 1 None
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You may not start to read the

questions printed on the
subsequent pages of this question
paper until instructed that you may
do so by the Invigilator
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War and the Hero

1 Answer one of the following with reference to Libro de Alexandre or the

Poema de Fernán González and Berceo’s Vida de santo Domingo de Silos or all
three:

(a) ‘The clerical poet of texts of War and the Hero finds himself ambivalently
placed between the claims of religious and secular authorities.’

(b) ‘Texts of War and the Hero impose order, integration and meaning on an
unreliable world.’

(c) Discuss the texts of War and the Hero with reference to at least two of:

(i) gender; (iv) relations between church and state;

(ii) nationhood; (v) the rising culture of commerce.
(iii) feudal organization;

Race, Place, and Society

2 Answer one of the following, with reference to historical data and/or cultural
and literary evidence.

(a) ‘The notion of blood purity was put to work to eliminate diversity through
massacre, segregation, conversion, Inquisition and expulsion.’
(b) ‘The relationship between Jews, Muslims and Catholics was, more often
than not, marked by segregation and mutual hostility.’

(c) Discuss the treatment or the representation − or both − of Jews or

Jews and conversos.

Screening the Text

3 Discuss one of the following with reference to two or more of the texts and
films studied in this topic:

(a) ‘The successful cinematic adaptation of both medieval and early modern
works of Spanish literature is entirely dependent upon their inherent theatricality.’

(b) ‘Historical accuracy is a production value that lends credibility to a film,

but it does not guarantee an accurate portrayal of the mentality, human behaviour
and world view of medieval or early modern Spain.’

(c) ‘Heroism, chivalry and idealized love dominate the cinematic narration of
medieval and early modern Spanish written texts.’
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The Great Romance

4 Answer one of the following:

(a) ‘Love and emotions are a means to an end in early modern Spanish
literature. They are a linguistic performance of the ideological contradictions and
limitations of a patriarchal and conservative society.’
Discuss with reference to two or more of the authors or primary texts
studied for this topic.

(b) ‘Sexuality and desire are always hidden under the veil of metaphor and
allegory in Golden Age literature, since the body and its needs did not pertain to
the field of artistic craft.’
Discuss with reference to two or more of the authors or primary texts
studied for this topic.

(c) ‘Cervantes’s novel articulates an impossible utopia: that of a world

where love, politics and nationality do not abide by stereotypes or pre-conceived
ideas.’
Discuss with reference to Cervantes’s Persiles y Sigismunda.

Playing the Devil

5 Answer one of the following with reference to two or more of the authors
studied for this topic: [N.B. Novelas ejemplares by a single author count as one
text.]

(a) ‘The devil is a dominant male figure in the Spanish Golden Age; women
are never empowered by him but rather tempted and corrupted.’

(b) ‘For all the attempts by the Church to control and offer a unidimensional
version of the devil, his identity remained elusive and multi-faceted throughout the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.’

(c) ‘Early modern conceptualization of the devil and his powers offered also
an opportunity for introspective analysis: a window into human psychology.’

END OF PAPER