Notes, summaries, assignments, exams, and problems for Arts and Humanities

Narrative Texts: Events in Time and Space

These texts recount events within a specific time and space.

Elements of Narrative

• Narrator: First-person (hero or witness) or third-person (omniscient narrator).
• Narration: The structure can be linear (presentation, middle, end), circular, in media res (starts without introduction), or parallel (presents multiple stories simultaneously).
• Characters: Marked by physical, psychological, and social features.
• Space and Time: Can be internal or external, real or fictional. Two types of time are distinguished:
  • Historical or External: Refers to the time or era in which the action unfolds.
  • Narrative or Internal: Refers to the duration of the story.

Language in Narrative

• Lexical Features: Prevalence of verbs, including

Narrative Genre

The narrative genre is a literary genre that represents real or fictional characters in a specific place and time.

Structure of a Narrative

• Exposition: Beginning of the story, presentation of the characters, and the time-space situation.
• Rising Action/Knot: The conflict unfolds.
• Climax: The most intense moment of the conflict.
• Falling Action/Dénouement: Resolution of the conflict.
• Resolution: End of the story.

Narrative Perspective

• First-person narrator: The narrator is one of the characters in the story, often the protagonist, and uses the first person ("I," "we").
• Third-person narrator:
  • Omniscient: The narrator knows everything about all the characters and events.
  • Limited: The narrator is a witness, telling what happens without revealing

Benito Pérez Galdós

Galdós' novelistic production is a reflection of the society of his time. Galdós' novels are notable for their characterizations and the integration of everyday life into the historical events of the time. The author combines various narrative techniques: the omniscient narrator, direct dialogue, and monologue. The language is consistent with the character.

National Episodes

They are demonstrations of 19th-century historical events treated from the standpoint of anonymous individuals. Examples include Trafalgar and The Battle of Arapiles.

Novels of the First Period

The first novels of Galdós, such as Doña Perfecta and Gloria, are called thesis novels because they are subject to the author's ideology: they contrast characters... Continue reading "Benito Pérez Galdós & Leopoldo Alas Clarín: Spanish Literary Masters" »

Audiovisual Synchrony, Asynchrony, and Antisynchrony

The Simultaneous and Sequential Expression: Diachrony-Synchrony

This section explores the interplay of synchronicity and diachrony, or the dual-axis operation of simultaneous and successive relations, through the process of assembly. Everything revolves around the combination of space and time.

Simultaneous Plurispatial Scope in Television

Television has the ability to reflect multiple spaces simultaneously. In the subsequent presentation of narrative spaces, live TV links remote sites located in different places, creating a new space that does not exist in reality.

Scope refers to the place where partners and presented realities converge. When a connection is made with correspondents in different... Continue reading "Audiovisual Synchrony and Asynchrony in Television" »

Gothic Sculpture (13th and 15th Centuries)

Features of Gothic Sculpture

• Figures exhibit a natural, realistic quality, with lifelike poses and expressions. They convey emotions, humanizing the art, while still retaining a degree of idealization.
• High relief is the dominant technique.
• Religious themes, particularly from the New Testament, are emphasized. Unlike the Romanesque period, the focus shifts away from the Book of Revelation.
• Sculptures now express a range of emotions, including pain and pleasure. The Virgin Mary is often depicted as an intermediary. Representations of Christ on the cross are imbued with intense pain and expressiveness.
• In addition to freestanding sculptures, other prominent genres include altarpieces, tombs, and choir stalls.

Adjectives Explained

An adjective is a word that expresses a quality or characteristic of a noun it accompanies, agreeing in gender and number.

Types of Adjectives

• Variable Adjectives: Have distinct forms for masculine and feminine genders. Plural forms are typically created by adding 's' or 'es' to the singular form.
• Invariable Adjectives: Have a single form for both masculine and feminine. Adjectives ending in -ac, -ic, -oc often have one ending for both genders in the singular but may vary in the plural. (Note: This rule seems specific, possibly to Catalan grammar.)

Degrees of Adjectives

• Positive Degree: Expresses a quality simply, without comparison.
• Comparative Degree: Expresses the intensity of a quality in comparison to other elements. It can

Alliteration: Repetition of one or more initial sounds in words that are very close together.

Onomatopoeia: Words that imitate real sounds.

Paronomasia (Pun): Repetition of words with very similar sounds.

Anaphora: Repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses, verses, or sentences.

Parallelism: Repetition of syntactic structures.

Anadiplosis: Repetition of the last word or phrase of a clause or sentence at the beginning of the next.

Concatenation: A series of anadiplosis in sequence.

Epanadiplosis: Repetition of a word at the beginning and end of a clause, verse, or sentence.

Pun: Play on words that uses multiple meanings of a term, or words that sound alike but have different meanings.

Chiasmus: A rhetorical or literary... Continue reading "Literary Devices: A Comprehensive Reference" »

Noucentisme

Features of Noucentisme

• Intellectualism: Defend rationality and intellectual rigor, usually possessing a strong background.
• European Influence: Advocate for the intellectual modernization of Spain and its connection to European culture.
• Cultural and Political Presence: Utilize positions of power to influence society.
• Universalist Ideal: Demonstrate a preference for urban culture.
• Aestheticism: Art is conceived as a self-sufficient and beautiful object: pure art, detached from sentimentality and realism, inspired by classical models.
• Formal Concern: Admire the intellectual rigor of well-executed work, and value art and intellectual minorities.

Avant-Garde Movements

The avant-garde movements and isms originated in Europe around World War I... Continue reading "Noucentisme and Avant-Garde Movements in Spanish Literature" »

Understanding Narrative-Descriptive Texts

This text can be classified as narrative-descriptive because it combines both narrative and descriptive elements. Descriptive passages focus on detailing elements, such as a room mentioned in the text. These descriptions are often subjective, reflecting the narrator's point of view, although objective adjectives might also be present.

Linguistic Features of Description

Key linguistic features in descriptive writing include verb forms, nouns, adjectives, semantic structures, and literary procedures.

Verb Forms in Descriptions

In descriptive sections, verb forms often have an imperfect aspect (e.g., imperfect, present tense), reflecting ongoing or unfinished actions. This contributes to a more static feel... Continue reading "Analyzing Narrative and Descriptive Writing Techniques" »

Italian Renaissance Painting

Space-Time Context

Between the 15th and 16th centuries.

Historical Context

Renaissance painting, bridging medieval and baroque art, reflects the revival of classical antiquity, the impact of humanism, new artistic techniques and sensibilities, and the transition from the medieval to the early modern age.

Key Periods

The Italian Renaissance is divided into two periods:

• The 15th century (Quattrocento): Florence is the cradle of Renaissance painting.
• The 16th century (Cinquecento/High Renaissance): Rome experiences the greatest artistic splendor.

General Characteristics

Renaissance painting sees the decline of the altarpiece, an emphasis on seniority and classical evocation, mastery of perspective, and the continuation of fresco... Continue reading "Italian Renaissance Art and Architecture" »