OVERVIEW

The course is held in the second semester and offers a literary, cultural, social, and historical overview of Spain from the Middle Ages to the seventeenth century, with the aim of providing students with the tools to understand and appreciate the main authors and works of the period, with particular focus on the Siglo de Oro.

AIMS AND CONTENT

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

Through attendance of the course and individual study, the student will gain knowledge of the evolution of Spanish literary history from its origins to the seventeenth century, as well as of the literary periods and the historical, political, and cultural context in which they developed. The student will be able to relate major European cultural movements to the works and authors studied, also establishing connections among them.

The student will be able to read, paraphrase, and translate the proposed literary texts in Spanish and to contextualize a literary work. They will also be able to comment on and analyze a literary text from the studied period, identifying literary stylistic features, topoi, and rhetorical figures.

PREREQUISITES

There are no specific prerequisites. The literary texts are presented in Spanish (sometimes with the help of an Italian translation). Students who do not study Spanish (either because they belong to a different department or have chosen this exam as an elective) may contact the teacher to request the critical texts in Italian (see bibliography).

TEACHING METHODS

36 hours of lectures with the help of multimedia material.

Before each lesson, the literary texts that will be commented in class will be charged on Aulaweb, so that students can have them with them in class. In Aulaweb the teacher will also upload support material, various types of in-depth analyzes and suggestions for autonomous study of a specific theme.

The teacher will also use Aulaweb to communicate with students, who are therefore invited to register on the course page on this platform.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

First Part: The Middle Ages

The concept of the Middle Ages; the centers of culture in medieval Spain; Arab, Jewish and Christian Spain;

The first literary manifestation in a Romance language: the Jarchas

The Spanish epic and the Poema de Mio Cid

Mester de juglaría and mester de clerecía

The Romancero and the Cancionero

Medieval prose and don Juan Manuel

Medieval poetry: Gonzalo de Berceo, El Arcipreste de Hita, Jorge Manrique

La Celestina and the dawn of the Renaissance.

Second part: "Siglo de Oro" (Renaissance and Baroque):

Poetry (Garcilaso de la Vega, san Juan de la Cruz, fray Luis de León, santa Teresa de Jesús, Luis de Góngora, Francisco de Quevedo, Lope de Vega);

Prose (Picaresca, Miguel de Cervantes);

Theater (Lope de Vega, Tirso de Molina, Calderón de la Barca).

During the lessons, we will focus our attention on the birth and development of the various literary currents, placing them in the historical-political, economic, artistic framework of Western culture in which they come to life. However, students' attention will be particularly drawn to the literary text. A selection of proposed texts, made available through aulaweb, will be read, commented and analyzed.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

For attending students:

1. Notes of the lessons
2. Literary texts inserted in Aulaweb
3. Diccionario de tópicos literarios (available in Aulaweb).
4. Cesare Segre, “Costruzioni rettilinee e costruzioni a spirale nel Don Chisciotte”, in Le strutture e il tempo, Torino, Einaudi, 1974, pp. 183-219. (available Aulaweb)
5. Felipe B. Pedraza – Milagros Rodríguez, “La ‘comedia’: caracteres, evolución, entorno”, in Manual de literatura española IV. Barroco: teatro (available Aulaweb).

Students who are NOT attending the course of Modern Languages and Cultures can request an alternative text, in Italian, to replace the text in point 5.

For non attending students:

1. Carlos Alvar, José Carlos Mainer, Rosa Navarro, Storia della letteratura spagnola. Vol. 1. Il Medioevo e l’età d’oro, Torino, Einaudi, 2000.
2. Cesare Segre, “Costruzioni rettilinee e costruzioni a spirale nel Don Chisciotte”, in Le strutture e il tempo, Torino, Einaudi, 1974, pp. 183-219. (available in aulaweb).
3. Felipe B. Pedraza – Milagros Rodríguez, “La ‘comedia’: caracteres, evolución, entorno”, in Manual de literatura española IV. Barroco: teatro (available in aulaweb).
4. Two books (in critical edition with notes and introduction) to choose from:

- F. de Rojas, La Celestina.

- Anonimo, Lazarillo de Tormes.

- Miguel de Cervantes, don Quijote de la Mancha.

- Miguel de Cervantes, Novelas ejemplares.

- Lope de Vega, Fuenteovejuna.

- Lope de Vega, Peribáñez y el comendador de Ocaña.

- Pedro Calderón de la Barca, La vida es sueño.

Students who are NOT attending the course of Modern Languages and Cultures can request an alternative text, in Italian, to replace the text in point 3.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

LESSONS

LESSONS START

Second semestre, from february 2026.

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

The exam consists of an oral interview in Italian or Spanish, at the student's choice, on the topics covered during the course.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The student must demonstrate knowledge of the bibliography and course notes (for attending students), and of being able to read, translate, comment and contextualize a proposed literary text. Students will need to demonstrate that they:

- Know the themes and stylistic evolution of Spanish literature from its origins to the seventeenth century;

- Know how to comment and analyze literary texts and contextualize them;

- Understand the original texts, primary and secondary literature on the proposed themes.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Students who have officially submitted certification of a disability, specific learning disorders (SLD), or other special educational needs are advised to contact both the designated advisor, Prof. Sara Dickinson (sara.dickinson@unige.it), and the course instructor at the beginning of the course, in order to agree on teaching and examination methods that, while respecting the course objectives, take individual learning styles into account and provide appropriate compensatory tools.