Spring 2011

Early Spanish American Women Writers

Listed in: Spanish, as SPAN-85

Description

(Offered as SPAN 85 and WAGS 09.) (RC) In this course we will study the writings of women of Spanish America from 1556 to the end of the 19th century, focusing on writers who came from Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Cuba, Peru and Colombia.  Their writings cover the colonial period as well as that of post-independence, and trace the ever-strengthening role of the female voice in Spanish American literature.  There are the voices of an early settler in Argentina and Paraguay, three nuns (Catalina de Erauso, transvestite and soldier; the incomparable Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz; and the visionary Madre Castillo) followed by an important group of 19th century women who were finally able to make a living by their pen. The most famous of these is Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, who wrote the first antislavery novel of the Americas, eleven years ahead of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin.  Most of them knew and supported each other by ties of friendship and a strong professional network.  In all of these voices one will hear articulated the desire for the right to express themselves as women and to be heard in a field that was decidedly masculine and often hostile to their efforts.  Conducted in Spanish.

Requisite:  Spanish 7, 11 or 12 or consent of the instructor.  Limited to 15 students.  Spring semester.  Visiting Professor Scott.

SPAN 85 - L/D

Section 01
M 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM CHAP 210
W 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM CHAP 210

ISBN Title Publisher Author(s) Comment Book Store Price
Madres del Verbo/Mothers of the Word. Early Spanish American Women Writers. A Bilingual Anthology Albuquerque: U of NM Press, 1999 Nina M. Scott Amherst Books TBD
Neither Saints nor Sinners. Writing the Lives of Women in Spanish America NYC: Osford UP, 2003 Kathleen Ann Myers Amherst Books TBD
Answer/La Respuesta: Including Sor Filotea's Letter and New Selected Poems Amherst Books TBD

These books are available locally at Amherst Books.

Offerings

2024-25: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Spring 2011