Logo UAB
2023/2024

Western Literary Tradition. The Construction of European Literature

Code: 106338 ECTS Credits: 6
Degree Type Year Semester
2504012 Spanish and Chinese Studies: Language, Literature and Culture OT 4 2
2504211 Spanish Language and Literature OT 3 2
2504211 Spanish Language and Literature OT 4 2
2504212 English Studies OT 3 2
2504212 English Studies OT 4 2
2504380 English and Catalan Studies OT 0 0
2504380 English and Catalan Studies OT 3 0
2504380 English and Catalan Studies OT 4 0
2504386 English and Spanish Studies OT 3 2
2504386 English and Spanish Studies OT 4 2
2504388 Catalan and Spanish Studies OT 0 0
2504388 Catalan and Spanish Studies OT 3 0
2504388 Catalan and Spanish Studies OT 4 0
2504393 English and French Studies OT 0 0
2504393 English and French Studies OT 3 0
2504393 English and French Studies OT 4 0

Contact

Name:
Maria Jose Vega Ramos
Email:
mariajose.vega@uab.cat

Teaching groups languages

You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject. Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2023.

Teachers

Miriam Ruiz-Ruano Risquez
Víctor Lillo Castañ

Prerequisites

By obtaining the minimum of credits in basic training subjects, students have demonstrated to have acquired the basic competences and they will be able to express themselves orally and in writing. For this reason, any expression error that may be committed will lead to a score decrease in the final grade.

Activities, practical sessions and papers submitted in the course must be original and under no circumstances will the total or partial plagiarism of third-party materials published on any medium be admitted. It is also expected that students know the general rules of submission of an academic work. However, students could apply the specific rules that the teacher of the subject may indicate to them, if they deem it necessary.


Objectives and Contextualisation

The subject intends:

1) to familiarize students with the notion of literary tradition and with the historical, geographical, cultural and ideological criteria that define the western, ancient and modern tradition (until 1800);

2) familiarize the students with the theoretical models and the practices that constitute the literary tradition;

3) familiarize students with a selection of works, authors and genres of some of the most representative traditions of ancient, medieval and modern Western literature through case studies;

4) improve the analytical and critical capacity of the students.

 


Competences

    Spanish Language and Literature
  • Demonstrate the ability to work autonomously and in teams in order to achieve the planned objectives in multicultural and interdisciplinary contexts.
  • Develop arguments applicable to the fields of Hispanic literature, literary theory, Spanish language and linguistics, and evaluate their academic relevance.
  • Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Use the methodology and concepts of literary analysis taking into account sources and contexts.
    English Studies
  • Apply the methodology of analysis and critical concepts to analysing the literature, culture and history of English-speaking countries.
  • Demonstrate skills to work autonomously and in teams to fulfil the planned objectives.
  • Develop arguments applicable to the fields of literature, culture and linguistics and evaluate their academic relevance.
  • Produce effective written work or oral presentations adapted to the appropriate register in distinct languages (except English).
  • Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
    English and Catalan Studies
  • Carry out effective written work or oral presentations adapted to the appropriate register in different languages.
  • Demonstrate the ability to work autonomously and in teams with the aim of attaining the planned objectives in multicultural and interdisciplinary contexts.
  • Identify and interpret literary texts in different languages, analysing the generic, formal, thematic and cultural characteristics in accordance with the concepts and methods of comparative literature and literary theory.
  • Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
  • Use digital tools and specific documentary sources to gather and organise information.
    English and Spanish Studies
  • Carry out effective written work or oral presentations adapted to the appropriate register in different languages.
  • Demonstrate the ability to work autonomously and in teams in order to achieve the planned objectives in multicultural and interdisciplinary contexts.
  • Identify the foundations of human language and the principles, methods and results of structural analysis of languages.
  • Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
  • Use digital tools and specific documentary sources to gather and organise information.
    Catalan and Spanish Studies
  • Demonstrate the ability to work autonomously and in teams with the aim of attaining the planned objectives in multicultural and interdisciplinary contexts.
  • Identify and interpret literary texts in Catalan and Spanish, analysing the generic, formal, thematic and cultural traits in accordance with the concepts and methods of comparative and literary theory.
  • Students have the ability to gather and interpret relevant data (normally within their study area) to issue judgments that include reflection on important issues of social, scientific or ethical.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Use digital tools and specific documentary sources to gather and organise information.
    English and French Studies
  • Carry out effective written work or oral presentations adapted to the appropriate register in different languages.
  • Demonstrate the ability to work autonomously and in teams with the aim of attaining the planned objectives in multicultural and interdisciplinary contexts.
  • Identify and interpret literary texts of different languages (English and French), analysing generic, formal, thematic and cultural features according to concepts and methods proper to comparative literature and literary theory.
  • Students have the ability to gather and interpret relevant data (normally within their study area) to issue judgments that include reflection on important issues of social, scientific or ethical.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
  • Use digital tools and specific documentary sources to gather and organise information.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Analyse literary texts using the different concepts and methods of comparative literature.
  2. Analysing literary texts using different concepts and methods of comparative literature.
  3. Argue a case regarding several literary topics and problems arising from different works and evaluate the results.
  4. Argue about several issues and literary problems for the purpose of different works and the assessment of the results.
  5. Argue on various literary themes and problems in relation to different works and evaluate the results.
  6. Arguing about several issues and literary problems for the purpose of different works and the assessment of the results.
  7. Autonomously search, select and process information both from structured sources (databases, bibliographies, specialized magazines) and from across the network.
  8. Carry out tasks on authors, methods and trends in comparative literature, relating knowledge of other disciplines in the humanities.
  9. Critically interpret literary works take into account the relationships between different areas of literature and its relationships with human, artistic and social areas.
  10. Critically interpreting literary works taking into account the relationships between the different areas of literature and its relationships with human, artistic and social areas.
  11. Effectively communicate and apply the argumentative and textual processes to formal and scientific texts.
  12. Effectively communicating and applying the argumentative and textual processes to formal and scientific texts.
  13. Explain the basic characteristics of the compared literary texts.
  14. Explaining the basic characteristics of comparative literary texts.
  15. Express oneself effectively by applying argumentative and textual procedures in formal and scientific texts.
  16. Identify and explain the basic characteristics of literary texts and the process of interpretation.
  17. Identifying and explaining the basic characteristics of literary texts and the interpretation process.
  18. Present written work or oral presentations on the main concepts of literary theory.
  19. Resolve tasks on authors, methods and trends in comparative literature by drawing on knowledge of other humanistic disciplines.
  20. Solve problems about writers, methods and currents of comparative literature, connecting them with knowledge of other humanistic disciplines.
  21. Solve problems related to the study of different literatures.
  22. Solve problems related to the theoretical foundations and the main concepts in the study of literary criticism.
  23. Solving problems about writers, methods and currents of comparative literature, and connecting them with knowledge of other humanistic disciplines.
  24. Solving problems related to the study of different literatures.
  25. Submitting works in accordance with both individual and small group demands and personal styles.
  26. Use digital tools to obtain, classify, interpret and analyse relevant data related to the study of literary theory.
  27. Use the skills acquired with autonomy.
  28. Use traditional sources to collect, classify, interpret and analyse relevant data related to the study of literary theory.
  29. Write text commentaries from a critical standpoint.

Content

Míriam Ruiz-Ruano

Session 1 and 2

(16 and 23 February)

The study of literary tradition

Poetry: the recovery of Ovid in early Renaissance Latin poetry

Recovery of Ovid during the 12th-13th centuries in medieval Latin poetry (aetas ovidiana). Commentary on a selection of poems from the Amores and their influence on the Cancionero de Ripoll.

Compulsory readings:

-Ovid, Amores

-Anonymous, Ripoll's Songbook.

 

Míriam Ruiz-Ruano

Session 3

(1st March)

Poetry: the urban lyric of the Dolce stil novo

In the 13th century, the concentration in urban centres and the birth of a civil climate, alongside the universities (Bologna, Padua...), led to the collapse in Italy of the troubadours' notion of courtly love: there was no place for the laws of chivalry or the amorous submission that they had borrowed from the feudal world. This session aims to provide an overview of the main innovations of the poets of the dolce stil nuovo: thematic (the woman-angel, the nobility of the heart, the sublimation of the experience of love) and formal (the sonnet). A selection of compositions by Guido Ginizzelli, Guido Cavalcanti and Dante will be discussed in class.

Compulsory readings:

-Martí de Riquer (ed.), Los trovadores [selection].

-Juan Ramón Masoliver (ed.), Dolce stil nuovo [selection].

 

Míriam Ruiz-Ruano
Session 4 and 5
(8 and 15 March)
Poetry: Petrarch, tradition and rupture
Although Petrarch prefigures the Renaissance, it is no less true that he was an excellent reader of the troubadours. The first session will briefly present the Canzoniere and the debts that this work contracted with poets such as Arnaut Daniel (in terms of motifs, but also expressive formulas). A selection of poems from the Canzoniere will be discussed, which will be duly paired with others by the troubadour in order to examine to what extent weare talking about continuity with this tradition and to what extent we are talking about a break with it.
The second session will be devoted to the influence of the vulgar Petrarch presented in the previous session. This time, the aim is to explain the Petrarchanism current on the basis of specific cases. On the one hand, the case of Ausiás March, a 15th century poet who was Petrarchised by the printing press in the successive editions of the Quincentenary (1543, 1555, 1560). This example will also allow us to refer to the verses of Garcilaso, Boscán and Herrera, who found in this supposedly Petrarchan author a model that provided them with rhetorical resources and themes. On the other hand, some of Ronsard's poems will also be discussed in class, with the aim of offering students a more international panorama of the phenomenon.
Compulsory readings:
-Petrarch, Canzoniere [selection].
-Ausiàs March, Poesies [selection].

 

Míriam Ruiz-Ruano
Session 6
(22nd March)
Narrative: from the Matter of Brittany to the Italian novels
This session aims to show the leap that took place in narrative in the 12th-14th centuries. The rise of the Arthurian cycle will be presented in class with the productions in verse (noves rimades) by Chrétien de Troyes and some fragments will be read in class in order to minimally characterise the roman courtois. Next, it will be shown how the novella genre, of popular origin, emerged in Italy in the 19th century, moving away from the chivalric adventure format and including a wide thematic repertoire much closer to the common people living in the new urban centres (from exemplary narratives to other obscene and sexual ones, including courtly and chivalric ones). A selection of stories from Boccaccio's Decameron will be discussed in class.

FIRST MIDTERM EXAM (5 April)

 

Víctor Lillo Castañ
Session 7 and 8
(12 and 19 April)
The representationof hell in the Aeneid and the Divine Comedy
Book VI of the Aeneid, situated right in the middle of Virgil's narrative, is charged with historical and political meaning. At this point in the epic, Aeneas becomes fully aware of the individual future that the fates have in store for him but, more importantly, he discovers the high collective mission that the gods have reserved for his descendants, namely the founding of Rome, the city that will conquer the whole world. This infernal descent, whose geography is meticulously described by Virgil, is one of the landmarks of Western literature and will have a long descendant. At the beginning of the 14th century, Dante, a great admirer of the Mantuan poet, imagined an infernal journey in which, with Virgil's help, the Christian and classical traditions were united. During these two sessions, we will describe the Virgilian and Dantesque hells, trace the tradition to which they belong and ponder the importance of these two catabasis within the whole of the Aeneid and the Divine Comedy.
Readings:
-Virgil's Aeneid, Book VI.
-Dante's Divine Comedy, (fragments)

 

Sesión 9 y 10

(26 de abril y 3 de mayo)

El diálogo como género literario: el Diálogo de la dignidad del hombre y la tradición literaria del tópico de la miseria y la dignitas hominis

Si hubo un género especialmente cultivado durante el humanismo europeo, este fue el diálogo. Esta forma literaria, que hunde sus raíces en la antigüedad clásica (Platón, Cicerón, Luciano de Samosata), experimentará un resurgimiento en la Italia del Quattrocento, fundamentalmente en lengua latina, y un siglo más tarde se extenderá por toda la Europa culta, tanto en la lengua de Virgilio como en las distintas lenguas vernáculas europeas. Para entender esta predilección por un género de marcado sabor clásico, esbozaremos los rasgos más salientes del humanismo, tanto en Italia como más allá de los Alpes, y veremos cómo se implantó este movimiento cultural en la España de comienzos del XVI. Uno de los frutos más tempranos y conspicuos del humanismo español en lengua vernácula es el Diálogo de la dignidad del hombre (c.1529), de Fernán Pérez de Oliva, en el que aparecen netamente representados dos tópicos literarios, la miseria y la dignitas hominis, que se remontan hasta la Biblia y se reelaboraron en la literatura clásica, medieval y renacentista. En la segunda sesión analizaremos la tradición literaria de estos dos tópicos, veremos cómo los incorporó Oliva en su diálogo y hablaremos también de la recepción del Diálogo de la dignidad del hombre, puesto que el texto sufrió una serie de modificaciones muy relevantes, ajenas al autor, en las dos ediciones que conoció en el siglo XVI, con el fin de limar los aspectos más peligrosos que presenta esta obra desde el punto de vista de la ortodoxia cristiana.

Lecturas:

-Diálogo de la dignidad del hombre, de Fernán Pérez de Oliva (fragmentos)

 

Víctor Lillo Castañ

Sesión 11 y 12

(10 y 17 de mayo)

La Utopía de Tomás Moro y el proyecto utópico de Vasco de Quiroga en México: de la teoría a la práctica.

En 1516 se imprimía en Lovaina la edición príncipe de la Utopía de Tomás Moro, obra destinada a iniciar un nuevo género literario y cuyo impacto en el pensamiento político europeo fue, y sigue siendo, enorme. En Utopía se rescatan viejos sueños sobre la mejor organización social –el influjo de la República de Platón es evidente– pero también están muy presentes algunos acontecimientos de candente actualidad en la época que le tocó vivir a Tomás Moro. La pésima situación económica de la Inglaterra de comienzos del XVI y las noticias de América transmitidas por los primeros colonizadores europeos son dos elementos que tienen un gran peso en la narración del inglés. Durante la primera sesión de este bloque desentrañaremos los variados elementos que confluyen en Utopía y trataremos de interpretar esta obra, que destaca precisamente por su ambigüedad. La segunda sesión la dedicaremos a Vasco de Quiroga quien, en la década de 1530, apenas diez años después de la conquista de México por Hernán Cortés, viajó a México como juez de la corona española y fundó dos pueblos, uno en México y otro en Michoacán, habitados íntegramente por indígenas. Estos dos pueblos se regían por las mismas leyes que las que imperan en la ficticia isla de Utopía, (los indios trabajaban seis horas diarias, vivían en casas comunitarias, no existía la propiedad privada...), y estaban pensados como una alternativa al sistema de la esclavitud y la encomienda. Durante esta última sesión analizaremos la Información en derecho (1535), texto en el que Vasco de Quiroga dio cuenta de las bases teóricas de su proyecto de organización social en México, basado en la Utopía de Tomás Moro.

Lecturas:

-Utopía de Tomás Moro (fragmentos)

 

SEGUNDO EXAMEN PARCIAL: 24 de mayo


Methodology

The course is divided into several units.
Each unit will last approximately two or three sessions. With the exception of the first one, a general introduction to the study of European literary tradition, each unit will study a major theme or genre of the Western literary and artistic tradition.Each block will count on a group of texts (or selection) of mandatory readings that the students must have read before attending the respective classes. The readings of each block will be analyzed by the teachers during the sessions in a generic framework that could allow the student to understand the particularity of a discourse or case within its tradition.

 

 

 

 
 

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.


Activities

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Lectures 80 3.2
Type: Supervised      
Presentations 30 1.2
Type: Autonomous      
Essay 40 1.6

Assessment

The aim is to carry out a global evaluation that allows to determine the students' skills at different levels (assimilation of the contents taught in class, written expression, argumentative capacity, etc.). The subject will be evaluated on the basis of exams, commentaries and practical sessions. The latter may consist of a brief writing, a text comment or a review.

1) Exams and commentary: a partial exam of the first part of the subject and a final exam of the second part is expected. The evaluation will include: a) a text commentary on some of the mandatory readings b) questions of synthesis and interpretation of the contents taught in class. The ability to respond clearly, orderly and adequately to the question asked will be valued.

2) Practical sessions (continuous evaluation): The type of practical activity (review / text comment / synthesis of academic articles) will be established by each teacher at the beginning of each block. In the correction of the practical activities will be evaluated the writing of the students both on a formal level (syntax, expression, vocabulary, etc.) and content (ideas, arguments, etc).

In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.

In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.

 

Single assessment

- Exam 1 (30%) and Exam 2 (30%).

- Essay 1 (15%) and Essay 2 (15%). 

- Short commentary (10%). 


Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Exam 1-2 and Critifcal Essay 1-2 20% (exam 1), 20% (exam 2), 15 % (essay 1), 15% (essay 2) 0 0 1, 2, 6, 4, 5, 3, 14, 13, 15, 12, 11, 17, 16, 10, 9, 29, 22, 24, 21, 27
Short essay 1 (15%) and 2 (15%) 15% i 15% 0 0 1, 2, 6, 4, 5, 3, 7, 14, 13, 15, 12, 11, 26, 28, 17, 16, 10, 9, 25, 18, 29, 22, 24, 21, 8, 23, 20, 19, 27

Bibliography

Bibliografía

Lecturas obligatorias:

Acuña, Hernando de. Varias poesías. Ed. de Luis F. Díaz Larios. Madrid: Cátedra, 1982. (Selección de fragmentos)

Boscán, Juan. Obra completa. Ed. de Carlos Clavería. Madrid: Cátedra, 1999. (Selección de fragmentos)

Cançoner de Ripoll. Trad. de Jordi Raventós. Martorell: Adesiaria, 2010.

Boccaccio, Decameró. Trad. de Francesc Vallverdú. Barcelona: Edicions 62, 2014. (Selección de fragmentos)

Dante, Comedia, ed. y trad. de José María Micó, Barcelona, Acantilado, 2018. (Selección de fragmentos)

Dante. Vida nova. Traducció de Rossend Arqués. Martorell: Adesiara, 2021. (Selección de fragmentos)

Dolce stil nuovo. Ed. de Ramon Masoliver. Barcelona: Seix Barral, 1983. (Selección de fragmentos)

March, Ausiàs. Poesies. Ed. de Pere Bohigas. Barcelona: Barcino, 2000. (Selección de fragmentos)

Moro, Tomás, Utopía, ed. y trad. de Pedro Rodríguez Santidrián, Madrid, Alianza Editorial, 2012. (Selección de fragmentos)

Ovidio. Amors. Trad. de Jordi Pérez Durà & Miquel Dolç. Barcelona: Bernat Metge, 1971.

Pérez de Oliva, Fernán, Diálogo de la dignidad del hombre, Razonamientos, Ejercicios, ed. de María Luisa Cerrón Puga, Madrid, Cátedra, 1995. (Selección de fragmentos)

Petrarca, Canzoniere. Ed. de Marco Santagata. Milà: Mondadori, 2000. (Selección de fragmentos)

Troyes, Chrétien de. El cuento del Graal. Madrid: Alianza Editorial, 1999.

Virgilio, Eneida, ed. de José Carlos Fernández Corte; trad. de Aurelio Espinosa, Madrid, Cátedra, 2006. (Libro VI)

Vega, Garcilaso de la. Obra poética y textos en prosa. Ed. de Bienvenido Morros. Barcelona, Crítica, 1995. (Selección de fragmentos)

 

 

 Lecturas recomendadas:

Alfano, Giancarlo. Introduzione alle lettura del Decameron. Bari: Laterza, 2014.

Barbero, Alessandro, Dante, trad. de Marilena de Chiara, Barcelona, Acantilado, 2021.

Cappelli, Guido, El humanismo italiano: un capítulo de la cultura europea entre Petrarca y Valla, Madrid, Alianza Editorial, 2007.

Kraye, Jill (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Renaissance Humanism, Cambridge University Press, 1996.

Lida de Malkiel, María Rosa, Dido en la literatura española: su retrato y defensa, Londres, Tamesis books, 1974.

Petrarca, Francesco, Mi secreto. Epístolas, ed. bilingüe de Rossend Arqués Corominas, trad. de Rossend Arqués Corominas y Anna Saurí, Madrid, Cátedra, 2011.

Rico, Francisco. El sueño del humanismo: De Petrarca a Erasmo, Barcelona, Crítica, 2014.

Rico, Francisco. El pequeño mundo del hombre: varia fortuna de una idea en la cultura española, Madrid, Alianza Editorial, 1986.

Ruiz-Ruano, Míriam. “Hernando de Acuña, casos de ‘imitatio’ de Ausiàs March en el petrarquismo hispánico del quinientos”, Caliope: journal of the Society for Renaissance and Baroque Hispanic Society, vol. 24 (1), 2019, p. 1-28.

Riquer, Martí de & José María Valverde. Historia de la literatura universal 1: desde los inicios hasta el Barroco. Barcelona: Austral, 2018.

Santagata, Marco, Dante. La novela de su vida, Madrid, Cátedra, Colección Biografías, 2018.

Skinner, Quentin, Los fundamentos del pensamiento político moderno, trad. de Juan José Utrilla, México, Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1985.

Tonelli, Natascia. Leggere il Canzoniere. Milà: Mondadori, 2017.

Vian Herrero, Ana; Vega, María José; Friedlein, Roger (eds.), Diálogo y censura en el siglo XVI (España y Portugal), Madrid, Iberoamericana Vervuert, 2016.

Virgilio, Bucólicas. Geórgicas. Apéndice virgiliano, introducción general, José Luis Vidal; trad., introd. y notas, Tomás de la Ascensión Recio García y Arturo Soler Ruiz, Madrid, Gredos, 1990.

V.V.A.A. Manifiestos del humanismo, trad. de María Morrás, Barcelona, Ediciones Península, 2000.

V.V.A.A. Diálogos españoles del Renacimiento, ed. e introd. Ana Vian Herrero, Madrid, Almuzara, Biblioteca de Literatura Universal, 2011.


Software

None