Crisis in Contemporary Spain: Subject, Memory, City, Post-Franco Liberation, and 21st century

The course revolves around six topics that allow you to get a better sense and knowledge of the culture and literature of Spain today (until 2017): 1) the crisis of the subject: how the classic idea of the uniform, constant and invariable "I" is questioned; 2) the construction of historical memory, with particular attention to “Los girasoles ciegos”, by Alberto Méndez; 3) female Bildungsroman and critical fiction: Carmen Laforet's novel, Nada; 4) poems and a documentary regarding the city as the setting for the modern crisis: Federico García Lorca, Pere Gimferer, José Hierro... and "Berlin", by Walter Ruttman, a relevant film about cities; 5) The Madrid “movida", a cultural movement that originated in the late 1970s and early 1980s, as a way to celebrate the post-Franco era: rock, cinema, photography, fashion, literature, comics; 6) The Nocilla generation, as the great transgression of realistic fiction: drift, spam, appropriation... new cultural strategies; 7) current Spain, with its economic crisis and manifestations, and stories about specific situations in 21st century: Isaac Rosa's short stories.

Required texts: Access to materials will be provided online.

This course is cross-listed with Culture.