INTRODUCTION TO LATIN AMERICAN LITERATURE & CULTURE:

LITERATURE, MEDIA, COMMUNITY Jerónimo Arellano jarellan@brandeis.edu T & Th 2-3:20 p.m. Office hours: Th & F 1-2:00 p.m Office: Shiffman 122 Course description: This course casts a panoramic view on the literature and cultural production of Latin America, from the pre-Columbian period to the globalized present. To navigate this long stretch of time we will focus on the relationship between storytelling and mass media, paying particular attention to the ways in which media change––for example: the advent of the printing press, the age of television, or the emergence of digital media––influence the artistic and literary production of Latin America.

Five media forms serve as focal points for this seminar: print, radio, film, television, and digital media. The dialogue between these technologies and the arts will serve as a point of departure for discussing central issues in Latin American culture such as identity and autonomy, mestizaje and hybridity, uneven technological development, colonialism and neocolonialism, peripheral modernities, and globalization. Reading and viewing materials include short excerpts from chronicles and novels, short stories, poetry, comics, screenplays, films, and digital media.

Course materials available in the bookstore:

All course materials will be available on LATTE. Course Requirements and Grading: a. Class participation (20%)

i. Brainstorming groups: Preparation for weekly in-class brainstorming groups. ii. Individual participation: Contributions to class discussions, including reactions to your classmates’s questions and opinions.

b. Oral Presentation w/Creative Group Exercise: (20%): An individual presentation on a text, film, or artwork discussed in class, including a creative reading, writing, or discussion exercise related to the material and offered to the group as a whole. (Instructions and details to be discussed in class). c. Weekly postings on Latte (Pass/Fail; 10%): Brief, informal responses to the readings/viewings assigned each week. d. Two partial exams (in class): (20%; 10& each) e. Creative/Critical Assignments: (30%) 3 hybrid creative/critical exercises: 1) a brief

translation of an Amerindian poetry piece; 2) a short, hypothetical screen adaptation of a written text discussed in class 3) a short, hypothetical digital-media adaptation of a film or literary text discussed in class. (Instructions and details for each assignment will be discussed in class).

Grading scale:

98 -100 = A+ 78 - 79 = C+ 59 and bellow = F 94 - 97 = A 74 - 77 = C 90 - 93 = A- 70 - 73 = C- 88 - 89 = B+ 68 - 69 = D+ 84 - 87 = B 64 - 67 = D 80 - 83 = B- 60 - 63 = D-

Success in this 4 credit hour course is based on the expectation that students will spend a minimum of 9 hours of study time per week in preparation for class (readings, papers, discussion sections, preparation for exams, etc.).

Course Outline:

Th. 01/14 Introduction and Overview

1: Colonial Mediascapes T. 01/19 Popol Vuh, animated film, Dir. Patricia Amblin. Anonymous, Popol Vuh: las antiguas historias del Quiché (pp. 2-7 [optional to read the rest]) Jay David Bolter & Richard Grussin, Remediation: Understanding New Media (excerpt; skim) Th. 01/21 Cristopher Columbus, “Carta a Luis de Santángel” Birgit Brander Rasmussen, “A New World Still in the Making” T. 01/26 Bartolomé de las Casas, Historia de las Indias: “La rebelión de Enriquillo” (sel.) Icíar Bollaín, Dir., Even the Rain/También la lluvia

Th. 01/28 Felipe Guamán Poma de Ayala, Engravings from Primer nueva corónica y buen

Gobierno Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, Comentarios reales (sel.)

Mary Louise Pratt, “Arts of the Contact Zone”

T. 02/02 Salvador Carrasco, Dir., The Other Conquest Poesía quechua & nahuátl (sel.) Introduce translation exercise

2: The Printing Press and Nation Formation

Th. 02/04 Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, Facundo (sel.) William Acree, “Print Culture and Collective Identity”

T. 02/09 María Luisa Bemberg, Dir., Camila Gertrudis de Avellaneda, Sab (sel.)

Th. 02/11 José Martí, “Nuestra América” (sel.) Philip Swanson, “Narrative and the Challenge of New Nations” Translation exercise due

T. 02/23 Jorge Ali Triana, Dir., Bolívar soy yo Th. 02/25 First partial exam

3: Avant-Garde Literature, the “Boom,” and Modern Media

T. 03/01 Luis Quintanilla, Radio: Poema inhalámbrico en trece mensajes (sel.)

(Audio file: http://ars-sonora.blogspot.com/2008/11/radio-poema-inalmbrico-en-trece.html)

Rubén Gallo, “Radio” (sel.)

Th. 03/03 Norman Ferguson et atl., Dir., Saludos amigos Guillermo Villaronda, Poemas a Walt Disney (sel.)

Alfonso Junco, “El cinematógrafo y la invasión pacífica” T. 03/08 Vicente Huidobro, Cagliostro: novela-film (sel.) Robert Wiene, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari Introduce screenplay exercise

Th. 03/10 Humberto Solás, Lucía Gabriel García Márquez, Cien años de soledad (sel.)

4: Literature, Pop Culture, and Global Media

T. 03/15 Guillermo de Toro, Dir., Cronos (film on latte) Guillermo de Toro, La invención de Cronos: guión cinematográfico (sel.)

Th. 03/17 Esteban Sapir, Dir., La antena (film on latte) Hernán Rivera Letelier, La contadora de películas (sel.)

T. 03/22 Alberto Fuguet and Sergio Gómez, McOndo (sel.) Alberto Fuguet, “La verdad o las consecuencias”

F. 03/24 Sergio Bizzio, Realidad (sel.) Anna McCarthy, “Reality Television: A Neoliberal Theater of Suffering” T. 03/29 Second partial exam

5: Latin American Digital Culture and Electronic Literature Th. 03/31

No class/at conference T. 04/05

Gustavo Taretto, Medianeras Andrés Neuman, La vida en las ventanas (sel.) Th. 04/07 Juan B. Guitiérrez, Condiciones extremas http://www.literatronica.com/src/Pagina.aspx?lng=HISPANIA&opus=1&pagina=1&nuntius=&artifex=3 Belén Gache, Wordtoys

< http://www.findelmundo.com.ar/wordtoys> Introduce transmedia exercise

T. 04/12 Humberto Padrón, Video de familia Pola Oloixarac, Las constelaciones oscuras (sel.) Th. 04/14 Alex Rivera, Sleep Dealer Lúcia Sá, “Virtual Neighbourhood: The Virtual Contruction of Capao Redondo” Presentations of transmedia mock-ups

T 04/19 Conclusions and Review