Notes, summaries, assignments, exams, and problems for Latin

The October Revolution and Birth of the USSR

Between September and November, the Bolsheviks emerged as the primary alternative to the Provisional Government. The Petrograd Soviet, headed by Leon Trotsky, along with the Moscow Soviet and other urban centers, sided with the Bolsheviks.

Prelude to Revolution: Russia in Crisis

Conditions of life notably worsened in Russia due to widespread shortages and administrative chaos.

Lenin's Return and Bolshevik Strategy

Lenin took advantage of this chaos to return to Petrograd from his exile. The Bolshevik leadership convinced their comrades to adopt the principle of armed insurrection. The Petrograd uprising was strategically deferred to coincide with the opening of the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets... Continue reading "The October Revolution: Russia's Path to the Soviet Union" »

History of Oracles and Prophecy

The Greeks believed that humans could know their fate through the Oracle of Delphi. The god Apollo was the god of the oracle. He spoke through the priestess Pythia, who was sitting in a chair on a crack in the earth, intoxicated by narcotic gases ascending from below. At Delphi, people asked the priests questions about love, war, the economy, and more. The priests then relayed these to Pythia. Apollo was believed to know all about the past and future, and people sought to take advantage of this by asking questions.

Religious Practices in Greco-Roman Civilization

Religious Acts

• Prayers: These acts represented offerings to the gods to achieve a favor, often involving milk, wine, or cakes.
• Sacrifices: Sacrifices were

The Spanish Novel: 1940s-1950s

The Existential Novel

The existential novel is a literary genre featuring maverick characters who are often confused and frustrated. A key example is The Family of Pascual Duarte by Camilo José Cela, which initiated a trend known as tremendismo. This movement also includes the early work of Miguel Delibes, such as The Shadow of the Cypress is Long. Two other notable yet hard-to-classify works from this period are Javier Mariño and The Living Forest.

The Social Novel of the 1950s

Several external factors favored a shift in Spanish narrative during this time. A new generation of writers emerged who had not participated in the Civil War, and press censorship was often circumvented through fiction. Key figures include:... Continue reading "Spanish Literature and Theater in the Post-War Era (1940s-50s)" »

Themes in Rosalía de Castro's Poetry

Rosalía de Castro's poetry often presents a bleak vision of life and the world, exploring themes of pain and anguish caused by the transience of life, the inability to recover the past, and profound desolation.

Poem 1: Desolation and Loss

This poem combines a unique blend of verse forms, including seven-syllable lines. The first stanza features consonant rhyme. It conveys a belief that there is no hope for the speaker, only utter desolation. This despair is so profound that even the white daylight intensifies its bitterness. The poem employs parallelism between "black nest," "grave," and "omission" on one hand, and "dead," "sad," and "my soul" on the other, emphasizing a pervasive sense of decay and sorrow.... Continue reading "Rosalía de Castro's Poetic World: Themes of Anguish and Hope" »

Troubadour Poetry: Origins and Influence

Troubadour poetry refers to the lyric works composed primarily in Occitan (Provençal Romance) during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. These works represent the first major literary output by authors utilizing a Romance language in the region.

This phenomenon is explained by the immense prestige achieved by the troubadour lyric in Occitan, which was the first Romance language to develop a literary standard suitable for sophisticated poetic expression. This development was also influenced by the linguistic and geographic proximity between Southern France and Catalonia, coupled with the political and cultural relations fostered in feudal courts.

Within Occitan literature, a specific concept of love developed... Continue reading "The Medieval Code of Courtly Love and Troubadour Lyric" »

Historical Context of the Roman Empire

In the year 753 BC, a settlement was founded that eventually became the capital of one of the world's most mighty empires: Rome. Its origins are sketchy, as history and legend are mixed; its creation is attributed to the brothers Romulus and Remus. Imperial Rome (31 BC – 476 AD) reached a stage where, due to the inability to govern an empire so large, it was chosen to establish a new political system headed by an emperor. From the 5th century, northern barbarian tribes of Europe embarked on the reconquest of these dominions until the year 476 AD, when the last Roman emperor was defeated by the Ostrogoths. Chronologically, we speak of Rome from the year 509 BC, when the Etruscans were expelled, until 476... Continue reading "Augustus of Prima Porta: Masterpiece of Roman Imperial Art" »

Stages

• 1940 — Beginning of the narrative
• 1960 — Latin American Boom
• 1980 — Consecration of the Narrative

Magic Realism

Magic realism appeared in the 1940s in an atmosphere of complete renovation and is the result of the mixture of cultures, peoples, and languages... which led to cultural syncretism in Latin America.

Features

• Logical alteration of reality.
• Survival of indigenous and Afro-American cosmogonies (belief systems).
• Consideration of myth as a valid category to explain the world.

Along with the concept of magical realism, Alejo Carpentier, in his work 'The Kingdom of This World', presents the marvelous as intrinsic to American reality. In this perspective, magical realism is the mode that embodies fantasy within everyday life. Featured

Unamuno

Unamuno's early work criticized the Spanish situation, looking to Europe as a model. Later, he explored the sense of existence, religious faith, and survival after death.

Works

• Test: Explored casticismo (intrahistory).
• Spanish travels and visions: Subjective views of the Spanish landscape.
• The life of Don Quixote and Sancho: Explored the tragic sense of life.
• The agony of Christianity: Examined the philosopher's condition, distresses, obsessions, search for God, immortality, and the struggle between reason and faith.

Novel

Unamuno called his new type of novel "Nivola," characterized by minimal action, dialogues, and interior monologues. Examples include:

• San Manuel Bueno, Martyr (loss of faith of a priest)
• Fog (Augusto Perez)

Ramón Maria del

Superstratum: External Linguistic Influences

A superstratum refers to the linguistic influences received from the language of a people who seize a territory during its formation, without replacing the existing language. For instance, the islands were occupied by the Vandals, leaving a superstratum influence.

Germanic Superstratum

In the Catalan lexicon, we find many words of Germanic origin, such as flag, war, and back.

Arabic Superstratum

Territories in the Arab domain were under influence for approximately three centuries. However, not all invaded lands remained under Arabic influence for the same duration. The introduction of Arabisms occurred primarily in territories under Islamic domination.

From Latin to Catalan: Language Evolution

The loss... Continue reading "Linguistic Foundations of Catalan: Superstratum and Substratum" »

- High average age (until the twelfth century): the world revolves around religion (Theocentricism) and the war. Feudal society is divided into nobles, vassals and religious and life revolves around the castles and monasteries .- Middle Ages (twelfth to fourteenth century): the feudal society undergoes a transformation with the emergence of cities and get a new social class: the bourgeoisie. The aristocracy is leaving the court and castles, and lesglésia still very power. Also during this period there were no demographic crisis due to the Black Death, and an economic crisis with social impact. XI-XIII centuries (the troubadour poetry) The first opera written in the vernacular is cultured troubadour poetry: Sexpressava in the vernacular (Occitan)... Continue reading "Conceptual delimitation" "social work" »