70-100

This course presents a diverse set of literary and cultural materials that will help understand Spain’s frequently contested Modernity. The guiding topic of discussion will be the conflicting definitions of Spanish national identity from the 18th to the...

What voices can we hear in pre-modern literature? How did literary forms (the novel, tragic drama, lyric poetry) emerge or evolve over the course of several centuries? In this class, we will examine a wide range of texts from the 12th to the 18th...

Comic Relief focuses on fictional works in French which use humor to dorer la pilule , or make more palatable, the social ills and political dangers they reveal. With naïfs and rebellious women as protagonists, these coming-of-age stories raise questions...

This course offers a concise yet complete survey of the most transformative poetic forms in Italian and Western literature, the sonnet. We will trace its evolution chronologically and thematically, using an anthology of approximately 70 sonnets to...

In the course of five hundred years, the region now referred to as Latin America went from being the target of one of the most comprehensive evangelizing projects ever attempted, to becoming the Catholic Church’s strongest bastion. Far from static or...

This course studies the literature of colonial Brazil. We will consider how texts and writing participate in empire and colonialism, and explore a range of primary texts that engage with the lands, resources, peoples, and legends of Brazil. We will also...

An introduction to ten most inspiring and much-discussed Italian films from Neorealism to today.

The French novelist Stendhal once described the novel as “un miroir qu’on promène le long d’un chemin,” a mirror we carry along the road. This course examines dystopian French novels (and some films) in order to explore what sort of reflection of reality...

This course engages the twin lenses of the comic and the disastrous as modes of studying Portuguese and Brazilian cultures. We will consider how reactions to disastrous events and how creating comic scenarios in written texts and performance are...

This course introduces students to a range of analytical and theoretical approaches to “reading” fiction, poetry, film, and essays. We will pair critical writings and creative texts of importance to the Romance world to help students develop their own...