Introduction to Contemporary Hispanic Literature
A survey of twentieth and twenty-first century texts and films from Spain and Hispanic America, taught by MIT's Global Studies and Languages department. Readings include Magali Garcia Ramis's Felices dias, Tio Sergio, Javier Cercas's Soldados de Salamina, and Lorca's play La casa de Bernarda Alba, alongside poems by Dario, Machado, Vallejo, Cernuda, and Luis Pales Matos, plus short stories from Mexico, Chile, Argentina, and Cuba. Students also watch films from Spain, Mexico, and Cuba. The course builds skills for analyzing the novel, short story, poem, film, and theatrical script, with thematic threads running through the Spanish Civil War, the Spanish-speaking Caribbean, and the history of race in the Americas. Materials include the syllabus, reading list, and assignments as published on MIT OpenCourseWare, free to access with no certificate offered.