26021 - Spanish Women's Literature

Learning outcomes

The student acquires in-depth knowledges of Spanish women's literature and is able to use practical methodologies for the analysis and the interpretation of the literary text.

Course contents

PROVISIONAL PAGE

 

Module 1 (Prof.ssa Nider)

Module 1 – Prof. Nider

This module aims to rediscover the figures of:

• Emilia Pardo Bazán (1851–1921), through her short stories, essays, and journalistic work, with particular attention to her commitment to women’s emancipation and her fight against gender violence.
• Ángeles Vicente (1873–1918), through the novel Zezé (1909), a homoerotic novel situated between Bildungsroman and social critique at the turn of the century, from a feminist perspective.

Module 2 (prof. Maggi)

The module will take as a case study the Spanish democratic Transition, examined here from the perspective of feminist and trans struggles. To understand the unfinished evolution of the first post-Francoist Spain, literary, non-fiction and cinematographic materials will be examined.

Readings/Bibliography

 Modulo 1 - Emilia Pardo Bazán

Primary Bibliography:

Module 1 – Primary Sources

• Emilia Pardo Bazán, El encaje roto. Antología de cuentos de violencia contra las mujeres, edited and introduced by Cristina Patiño Eirín, Zaragoza, Editorial Contraseña, 2018
  OR
  Il pizzo strappato. Racconti sulla violenza contro le donne, edited by Valentina Nider (bilingual edition with facing Italian text), Venice, Marsilio, 2021
  (12 short stories – list available on Virtuale)
• Emilia Pardo Bazán, La mujer española y otros escritos, ed. Guadalupe Gómez-Ferrer Morant, Madrid, Cátedra, 2018
  Italian translation: La donna spagnola, trans. Francesca Peretto; freely downloadable at
  https://amsacta.unibo.it/id/eprint/8251/
  (A selection of passages will be indicated on Virtuale)
• Emilia Pardo Bazán, La vida contemporánea
  (2 articles to be uploaded on Virtuale:
  1. “Como en las cavernas”
  2. “Entre ascuas”)
• Ángeles Vicente, Zezé, ed. Ángela Ena Bordonada, Madrid, Lengua de Trapo, 2005
  Italian translation: Zezé, ed. Vincenzo Quaranta; freely downloadable at
  https://amsacta.unibo.it/id/eprint/8283/

Secondary Bibliography

• Guadalupe Gómez-Ferrer Morant, Historia de las mujeres en España: siglos XIX y XX, Madrid, Arco Libros, 2011, chapters 1–5
• Cristina Patiño Eirín, “Prologue” in El encaje roto. Antología de cuentos de violencia contra las mujeres,
  OR
  V. Nider, “Prologue” in Il pizzo strappato. Racconti sulla violenza contro le donne

A) Bibliography and Podcasts on the Short Stories by Emilia Pardo Bazán (choose one article or podcast)

• Podcast: Olivia Rodríguez González, Los cuentos de Pardo Bazán
  https://www.rtve.es/play/audios/los-lunes-de-pardo-bazan/
• M.E. McKenna, “Recalcitrant Endings in the Short Stories of Emilia Pardo Bazán.” Letras Peninsulares 11 (1998): 637–656
• Mario Santana, “An Essay in Feminist Rhetoric: Emilia Pardo Bazán's ‘El indulto.’” MLN, Vol. 116, No. 2 (2001): 250–265
• Beatriz Trigo, “El Espacio Fantástico en Tres Cuentos de Emilia Pardo Bazán o la Reafirmación de la Sociedad Patriarcal.” La Cúpula, 2002
• María Elena Ojea Fernández, “Narrativa feminista en los cuentos de la Condesa de Pardo Bazán” (online)

B) Bibliography and Podcasts on Emilia Pardo Bazán’s Journalism (choose one article or podcast)

• Ana María Freire López, La obra periodística de Emilia Pardo Bazán
  https://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra-visor/la-obra-periodistica-de-emilia-pardo-bazan/html/32de54f0-69e9-11e1-b1fb-00163ebf5e63_4.html
• Podcast: Ana Mª Freire, Emilia Pardo Bazán periodista
  https://www.rtve.es/play/audios/los-lunes-de-pardo-bazan/
• Emilia Pérez Romero, El periodismo de Emilia Pardo Bazán, Vigo, Academia del Hispanismo, 2016 (chapters 2 or 4)

C) Bibliography on Zezé by Ángeles Vicente

• Ángela Ena Bordonada, “Prologue” in Zezé, ed. E.B., Madrid, Lengua de Trapo, 2005
  OR
  “Zezé di Ángeles Vicente: il romanzo (omo)erotico e femminista di una donna moderna,” in Zezé, trans. V. Quaranta

Also (choose one of the following articles):

• María Inmaculada Naranjo Ruiz, “Ángeles Vicente, una escritora afincada en el terreno de la Sicalipsis,” in:
  Flavie Fouchard (ed.), Iconografías y autorías femeninas y queer. Perspectivas cruzadas Francia y España (siglos XIX–XX), Granada, Editorial Comares, 2004, pp. 97–115
• Anne Holloway, “‘Para usted soy siempre yo’: A Picaresque Double Act in Ángeles Vicente’s Zezé (1909),” Bulletin of Spanish Studies, 2018, 95(2–3): 205–222
• Ángela Ena Bordonada, “La invención de la mujer moderna en la Edad de Plata,” Feminismo/s 37, pp. 25–52

Recommended Films and Videos

• Marcela y Elisa (Isabel Coixet, 2019) – Netflix and other platforms
• El indulto (José Luis Sánchez de Heredia, 1960) – YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A95qtnS6RNs]
• Emilia Pardo Bazán, inclasificable – RTVE Play [https://www.rtve.es/play/videos/imprescindibles/emilia-pardo-bazan-inclasificable/6253722/] (free registration required)

Modulo 2

Bibliography

ONE of the following novels must be studied in depth for the examination:

Rosa Montero, Crónica del desamor (1979) (Barcelona, Debolsillo, 2015 or subsequent reprints), OR

Alana S. Portero, La mala costumbre (2023) (English translation by Mara Faye Lethem: Bad Habit, Fourth Estate, 2024)

Plus chapters 7 to 10 of:

Gómez-Ferrer Morant, Guadalupe, Historia de las mujeres en España: siglos XIX y XX, Madrid, Arco Libros, 2011.

Filmography:

Fernando Colomo, Tigres de papel (1977)

José Luis Garci, Asignatura pendiente (1977)

Pedro Almodóvar, Pepi, Luci, Bom y otras chicas del montón (1980)

Pilar Miró, Gary Cooper, que estás en los cielos (1980)

Alejandro Marín, Te estoy amando locamente (2023)

Teaching methods

The course includes, in addition to the lectures in Spanish, the seminar in-depth study of some topics relating to the sources studied, as well as the theoretical and methodological tools relevant to their study.

Assessment methods

The exam consists of an oral presentation in Spanish on course topics, which may include a subject previously agreed with the instructor.
For the Modulo 1 students must prepare the exam using the core reading list indicated in the syllabus (primary texts, prologues, and selected chapters from the historical manual), along with materials uploaded on Virtuale.

As for the secondary bibliography, which will be critically discussed during the course, students must present a critical article for each of sections A, B, and C – a total of 3 articles.

For both modules, active participation will be assessed.
Any oral or written presentations on texts and films may exempt students from corresponding bibliography, subject to case-by-case evaluation.

The final exam consists of an oral test in Spanish which aims to evaluate the critical and methodological skills matured by the student, who will be invited to compare himself with the texts in the program. The student will have to demonstrate ability 1) to orient himself in Spanish cultural and literary history 2) to adequately master the contents of the program and the related bibliography, 3) to establish links between the topics of the course, 4) to be able to analyze the rhetorical and linguistic characteristics and literary works of the works examined and treated during the lessons.The ability to offer a critical synthesis of the topics addressed in class will be assessed with marks of excellence, using a specific language and demonstrating mastery in the analysis of the texts.The mostly mnemonic knowledge of the subject, the ability to synthesize and analysis not in depth and a correct but not always appropriate language will lead to discrete evaluations.Rough knowledge, superficial understanding, poor analytical skills and not always appropriate expression will correspond to just sufficient evaluations. Training gaps, inappropriate language, difficulties in orienting oneself within the contents and bibliographic materials in the program will be evaluated negatively.

Teaching tools

During the lessons, slides, video and film fragments, images of printed texts and illustrations will be projected, some of which will subsequently be deposited on the course platform. These materials made available are obviously intended as an INTEGRAL and NECESSARY (but not sufficient) part of the exam program.

Students with SLD or temporary or permanent disabilities. It is necessary to contact the relevant University office (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en ) with ample time in advance: the office will propose some adjustments, which must in any case be submitted 15 days in advance to the lecturer, who will assess the appropriateness of these in relation to the teaching objectives.

Office hours

See the website of Valentina Nider

See the website of Eugenio Maggi