Course Descriptions
101-102. Elementary Spanish.Fall, Spring. Credits: 4-4.
Pronunciation, fundamentals of grammar, composition, and reading of texts of graded difficulty.
201-202. Intermediate Spanish.
Fall, Spring. Credits: 4-4.
Degree Requirement: F10 for 201.
Review and continuation of grammar; composition; training for oral proficiency. Reading of modern literary works of Spain and Spanish America.
Prerequisites: one year of Spanish in college or two years in high school.
Summer. Credits: 4.
Degree Requirement: F10, F11.
An intensive study of Spanish at Estudio Sampere. This course satisfies the proficiency requirement in foreign languages, as well as the foundation requirement for experiential learning beyond the Rhodes campus.
Prerequisites: One year of college-level Spanish.
209. Spanish in Cuenca, Ecuador.
Summer. Credits: 4.
Degree Requirement: F10, F11.
An intensive study of Spanish at Estudio Sampere’s Cuenca location. This course satisfies the proficiency requirement in foreign languages, as well as the foundation requirement for experiential learning beyond the Rhodes campus.
Prerequisites: One year of college-level Spanish.
Fall, Spring. Credits: 4-4.
Degree Requirement: F2 for 302.
A study of the most difficult aspects of the Spanish language with emphasis on the four skills of speaking, understanding, writing, and reading. Special attention is given to the idiomatic character of the language. Text materials deal with civilization and current events. Aural comprehension and oral production are stressed in 301; composition is stressed in 302, a writing intensive course. These courses need not be taken in sequence.
Prerequisites: Spanish 202 or the equivalent.
303. Survey of Peninsular Spanish Literature.
Spring. Credits: 4.
Degree Requirements: Humanities, F4.
Reading and analysis of selected works of Peninsular Spanish literature from a range of genres. Beginning with a brief introduction to Spain’s multicultural past, the course will provide students with a panoramic survey of the major periods in Spanish cultural and literary history from the 11th through the 21st centuries. Emphasis given to the fundamentals of literary research and analysis.
Prerequisites: Spanish 301 or 302 or permission of instructor
Summer. Credits: 4.
Degree Requirement: F11.
An intensive study of advanced-level Spanish at Estudio Sampere.
Prerequisites: Two years of college-level Spanish.
306. Survey of Spanish American Literatures and Cultures.
Fall, Spring. Credits: 4.
Degree Requirements: Humanities. F4.
A panoramic overview of literary and cultural movements from the pre-Columbian era to the present. Emphasis given to the fundamentals of literary research and analysis.
Prerequisites: Spanish 301 or 302 or permission of instructor.
Spring. Credits: 1.
Discussion of contemporary issues in Spanish-speaking communities with emphasis on improving oral proficiency.
Prerequisites: Spanish 301 or 302 or permission of instructor.
309. Spanish in Cuenca, Ecuador.
Summer. Credits: 4.
Degree Requirement: F11.
An intensive study of advanced-level Spanish at Estudio Sampere’s Cuenca location.
Prerequisites: Two years of college-level Spanish.
Fall. Credits: 4.
Degree Requirements: Humanities.
A course in which students read and analyze texts pertaining to the U.S. Hispanic experience as they work with agencies that provide services in the Hispanic communities of Memphis.
Prerequisites: Spanish 301 or 302 or permission of instructor.
320. Spanish American Drama.
Credits: 4.
Degree Requirements: Humanities, F5.
A study of the works of Spanish American dramatists from the colonial era to the present.
Prerequisites: Spanish 301 or 302 or permission of instructor.
Credits: 4.
Degree Requirements: Humanities.
A study of the major movements and representatives of Spanish American Poetry, from pre-Columbian era to the present.
Prerequisites: Spanish 301 or 302 or permission of instructor.
340. Latin American Colonial Literature.
Fall. Credits: 4.
Degree Requirements: Humanities.
A survey course centered on the literary manifestations of Latin America during the Colonial period. Some of the main authors that will be studied are Cristóbal Colón, Hernán Cortés, Bartolomé de las Casas, Inca Garcilaso de la Vega and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.
Prerequisites: Spanish 301 or 302, or permission of the instructor.
Fall. Credits: 4.
Degree Requirements: Humanities.
This course aims to raise and examine issues associated with women’s literary expression through the study of works by some of the most prominent Spanish writers of the last two centuries. Questions of marginality (as related to gender, language and culture), female sexuality and creativity, and the challenge of writing under the watchful eye of state censors will be addressed.
Prerequisites: Spanish 301 or 302 or permission of instructor.
355. Medieval and Early Modern Women Writers.
Spring. Credits 4.
The primary focus is on women writers from the Middle Ages to the end of the seventeenth century. It explores how women writers in the Hispanic world, such as Florencia Pinar, Teresa de Jesús, Catalina de Erauso, Juana Inés de la Cruz, and María de Zayas, negotiate gender construction and its impositions through literature. For these women, literary production becomes the site of gender-related political resistance, and in some instances, gender redefinition or what could be called a Hispanic proto-feminism. The course deals with a variety of literary genres, such as poetry, short novel, theater, autobiography, and letters, as well as some oral tradition.
Prerequisites: Spanish 301 or 302 or permission by instructor.
Spring. Credits: 4.
Degree Requirements: Humanities.
A study of gender in works by women and men writers. Topical units composed of texts representing various genres, regions, and periods.
Prerequisites: Spanish 301 or 302 or permission of instructor.
365. Special Topics in Spanish.
Fall, Spring. Credits: 4.
Emphasis on a particular genre or the literature of a specific Hispanic nation.
Prerequisites: Spanish 301 or 302 or permission of instructor.
Fall. Credits: 4.
Degree Requirements: Humanities.
A study of contemporary Southern Cone literature including short stories, novels, theatre, poetry, and essays.
Prerequisites: Spanish 301 or 302 or permission of instructor.
395. Spanish Medieval Masterpieces.
Fall. Credits: 4.
Degree Requirements: Humanities.
A survey course of the literary manifestations of Spain during the Middle Ages. Some of the main texts that may be studied are Poema de Mio Cid, Milagros de Nuestra Señora, Libro de buen amor and La Celestina.
Prerequisites: Spanish 301 or 302 or permission of instructor.
Fall. Credits: 4.
Degree Requirements: Humanities.
A study of major Mexican writers of the 20th and 21st centuries. May include works by Juan Rulfo, Rosario Castellanos, Elena Garro, Carlos Fuentes, Octavio Paz, and Carlos Monsiváis.
Prerequisites: Spanish 301 or 302 or permission of instructor.
406. The Contemporary Novel of Spanish America.
Fall. Credits: 4.
Degree Requirements: Humanities.
A study of major novelists since 1950. May include works by Carmen Boullosa, Mario Vargas Llosa, Cristina Peri Rossi, and Gabriel García Márquez.
Prerequisites: Spanish 301 or 302 or permission of instructor.
Fall. Credits: 4.
Degree Requirements: Humanities.
A study of Spanish American short story writers. May include works by Jorge Luis Borges, Isabel Allende, Luisa Valenzuela, Julio Cortázar, and Horacio Quiroga.
Prerequisites: Spanish 301 or 302 or permission of instructor.
410. Modern Spain: From Enlightenment to Realism.
Fall. Credits: 4.
Degree Requirements: Humanities.
This course aims to give the student an overview of the literary development of Spain during the 18th and 19th centuries. Emphasis is given to the main cultural and literary movements: Enlightenment, Romanticism and Realism.
Prerequisites: Spanish 301 or 302 or permission of instructor.
Fall, Spring. Credits: 4-4.
Degree Requirements: Humanities.
Spanish 412 studies the generations of 1898 and 1927. Spanish 413 focuses on the literature of the Spanish Civil War, the Franco Regime, and the transition from dictatorship to democracy. These courses do not need to be taken in sequence.
Prerequisites: Spanish 301 or 302 or permission of instructor.
421. Poetry and Prose of the Golden Ages.
Fall, Spring. Credits: 4.
Degree Requirements: Humanities.
This course focuses on 16th- and 17th-century poetry and prose. May include works by Quevedo, Góngora, Garcilaso de la Vega, Cervantes, Zayas, Teresa de Jesús, and Juan de la Cruz.
Prerequisites: Spanish 301 or 302 or permission of instructor.
Spring. Credits 4.
This course will study major playwrights of the Golden Age such as Lope de Vega, Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Tirso de Molina, María de Zayas, Juana Inés de la Cruz and Juan Ruiz de Alarcón, among many others. Written and staged between the end of the 16th and the end of the 17th centuries—a period known for its literary and artistic activity both in the New World and Spain—these plays are important because of their themes, audience and treatment of critical issues such as gender definition, national identity, and conflicts of class.
Prerequisites: Spanish 301 or 302 or permission by instructor.
424. Exploring Don Quijote.
Fall. Credits 4.
This course aims to familiarize students with Miguel de Cervantes’s masterpiece, considered one of the classics of 17th-century Spanish literature. Although both parts of Don Quijote will be examined, emphasis will be given to the first part written in 1605. Questions of readership, authorship, and narrative, among others, will be examined.
Prerequisites: Spanish 301 or 302 or permission by instructor.
Spring. Credits: 4.
An overview of major topics of Hispanic literatures and cultures. Emphasis is given to the process of conceiving and developing a substantial library of research, and to the elaboration of a major research paper. 495-496. Honors Tutorial.
Fall, Spring. Credits: 4-8,4-8.