The Discovery of Latin America

                                                                       Syllabus 

COURSE DESCRIPTION: 

Required Texts: 

Cohen, J.M. trans.  Christopher Columbus: The Four Voyages 

Diaz del Castillo, Bernal.  The Conquest of New Spain 

De Cieza de Leon, Pedro.  The Discovery and Conquest of Peru 

Galeano, Eduardo.  Memory of Fire: I. Genesis 

---.  Memory of Fire: II. Faces & Masks 

Greenblatt, Stephen.  Marvelous Possessions: The Wonder of the New World 

Greenblatt, Stephen, ed.   New World Encounters 

Todorov, Tzvetan.  The Conquest of America 

Carpentier, Alejo.    The Harp and the Shadow 

Vargas Llosa, Mario.  The Green House 

Fuentes, Carlos.  Terra Nostra

Course Description: Comparative Literature 574: Special Problems in Literature: The Discovery of Latin America is a graduate seminar on the literary discovery of the New World.  Thematically, the course will focus upon the written depiction of the Conquest of Latin America from the early explorers to the present-day reconstruction of the Conquest by contemporary Latin American authors.  As we read, we will contemplate the ways in which these writers have created Latin America and how that creation has affected the generations of writers who tried to create a Latin America different from the one all have inherited from the chronicles of discovery. 

We will limit the scope of the seminar to the early chronicles written by the discoverers of America--Christopher Columbus, Hernan Cortez (as told by Bernal Diaz del Castillo), and Pedro de Cieza de Leon.  Then we will move to a contemporary “history” which combines history and fiction, the words of the conqueror and the conquered, and revises and undermines the authority of the early chronicles is a radical way--Eduardo Galleano’s Memory of Fire.  Before moving on to some contemporary novels, we will read some contemporary critical analysis of the histories, Tzvetan Todorov’s The Conquest of America, Stephen Greenblatt’s Marvelous Possessions, and a collection of essays edited by Greenblatt.  Finally, we will read three contemporary novels which take up the subject of the Conquest--Alejo Carpentier’s The Harp and the Shadow, Mario Vargas Llosa’s The Green House,  and Carlos Fuentes’ Terra Nostra. 

Course Requirements:  

1.  Read and discuss the novels.

2.  Write a 15-20 page seminar paper which analyzes an aspect of one of the novels required for the seminar.  Your paper should cover materials other than those covered in class. 

3.  Compile and present a 15-20 item annotated bibliography on the novel your seminar paper analyzes. 

4.   Present three brief analyses of one of each of the three types of texts assigned in which you compare, contrast, and critique three different critical analyses taken from journals or books on the works of the author. (In other words, you will be making three short presentations throughout the semester, one on a chronicle, one on theory or history, and one on a novel.) These presentations  must be presented on the day we are scheduled to discuss the book in question. There will be no make-up for missed dates. You will turn in the hard copy of your presentation, as well.  

5.  Make a 10-minute presentation, at the end of the semester, on your seminar paper project.  This presentation should cover in more depth some aspect of the novel that you did not necessarily cover in your paper (which you will have provided in advance to your seminar colleagues and to me) but which you nevertheless found intriguing; in addition, you should be fielding questions from your seminar colleagues.

 

Grading Policy: 

Seminar Paper:             50%

Annotated Bib.:             20%

Presentations:               15% 

Paper Report:               15%

                                                                        100% 

 

Course Schedule: 

Week #1:         Introduction to the course 

Week #2:         Fuson, Christopher Columbus: The Four Voyages 

Week #3:         Diaz del Castillo, The Conquest of New Spain 

Week #4:         De Leon, The Discovery and Conquest of Peru 

Week #5:         Galeano, Memory of Fire: I. Genesis 

Week #6:         Galeano, Memory of Fire: II. Faces & Masks 

Week #7:         Todorov, The Conquest of America