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

Chivalric Literature: From Medieval Tales to Tirant lo Blanc

Books of Chivalry: At the center of these stories was the figure of a knight-errant, who was involved in a string of daring missions, following an ethical code. These missions of the knights took on a purely anecdotal and adventurous nuance, including courtly love, and religious or symbolic elements. The stories were always wrapped in a good dose of fantasy, magic, and wonderful items. Dissemination from the European area of Britain was early in our land, and over the fourteenth century: Blandín of Cornwall or The Fable. But our literature made the genre evolve into what is called the chivalric novel, more credible and realistic, reflecting the changes.

The New Chivalric Novels

Novell... Continue reading "Chivalric Literature in Valencia: From Medieval Tales to Tirant lo Blanc" »

Generation of '27

A Poetic Fusion in Spain

The Generation of '27 wasn't strictly a generation, but rather a close-knit group of poets within a larger historical generation. This larger generation included other poets (like Miguel Hernández), playwrights (like Alejandro Casona), novelists (like Francisco Ayala), and even artists from other cultural movements (like Luis Buñuel, Salvador Dalí, and Manuel de Falla). The poets of '27 were united by a fusion of ideas:

• Noucentisme (pure art, intellectual rigor, and careful style)
• Tenets of the avant-garde (especially Surrealism and Creationism)
• Deep respect for Spanish lyrical tradition (influenced by authors like Antonio Machado and Juan Ramón Jiménez)
• Secular ideology from their shared educational

Spanish Post-Civil War Novel: Literary Evolution

The 1940s Literary Landscape

The Spanish novel of the 1940s was profoundly marked by exile, harsh censorship, and the promotion of idealistic novels that extolled the values of the Francoist regime.

Idealistic Novel

During the initial years of Franco's rule, propaganda-driven novels were published that glorified the war, the regime, and its values. Notable works include La fiel infantería by Rafael García Serrano and Javier Mariño by Gonzalo Torrente Ballester. There was also another idealistic narrative that sought to forget the war.

Existential Novel

This type of novel attempts to reflect everyday life. Its recurring themes include loneliness, the frustration of hopes, the uprooting of characters... Continue reading "Spanish Post-Civil War Novel: Literary Evolution and Key Authors" »

Roman Architecture

The Romans adopted Greek architectural elements, but these elements merged with those of the Etruscans and the Near East (Mesopotamia, Persia, etc.).

In addition to the three Greek orders, they used two others:

• The Tuscan: This order comes from Etruscan art and resembles the Doric, but the shaft is smooth without edges and placed on a pedestal or podium.
• The Composite: The most characteristic feature is that it mixes the Ionian spiral scrolls with the acanthus leaves of the Corinthian in the capital. The shaft can be smooth and sharp and is usually also placed on a podium.

Roman buildings used other elements such as the arch, or semicircular arch, and the vault. These two elements allowed for a more even distribution of weight... Continue reading "Roman Architecture, Painting, and Mosaics: Key Features" »

Nobel Prize winner in 1956, the poetry of Juan Ramón Jiménez is, in the poet's words, a poem in sequence, a work in progress. The need to provide a sample of the status of his work led the poet to several anthologies: Selected Poems (1917), Second Anthology of Poetry (1922), and Third Anthology of Poetry (1957). The poet himself stated in his later years three stages in his production: Sensitive Time, Intellectual Era (since 1916), and True or Enough Time (since 1936).

Sensitive Time (Up to 1916)

• Intimate Step

  Poetry 'pure' in the sense of simple, intimate, and symbolist modernism. We note the influence of Bécquer and the French Symbolists. Nature, solitude, the passage of time, death, or unsatisfied love are the themes that are enveloped by

The Metric, Language, and Style of the Poem of the Cid

Over 3,000 verses in the Poem of the Cid are grouped into assonant monorhyme stanzas of varying lengths, ranging from 2 to 90 lines. The lines are irregular and divided into two hemistiches by a strong caesura, often represented graphically by a separation. The most common hemistiches have 6, 7, or 8 syllables.

The poem's language emphasizes clarity, specificity, and simplicity of expression. Minstrel features include frequent invocations of listeners, exclamatory expressions suggesting an audience, and a steady narrative pace. The oral tradition also explains the free use of verb forms and the use of epic epithets and appositions, which magnify the heroes, especially the Cid. Parallels to... Continue reading "Poem of the Cid: A Literary and Historical Analysis" »

Poema del Mio Cid

An epic poem recounting the story of Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, El Cid, a Castilian nobleman of the 11th century. The poem details the loss and recovery of the Cid's honor after being unjustly banished by King Alfonso VI. It is divided into three parts:

Song of the Exile

The poem begins with the Cid and his subjects leaving their land. In exile, he engages in battles against both Arabs and Christians. This section portrays him as a warrior hero with great humanity.

Song of the Marriage

After several victories, the Cid conquers Valencia. He sends a share of the spoils to King Alfonso VI, who forgives him and arranges the marriage of the Cid's daughters to the Heirs of Carrion.

Song of the Afrenta of Corpes

The Heirs of Carrion, accused... Continue reading "Medieval Spanish Literature: El Cid, Miracles, Love, and More" »

Social and Historical Context of the 1920s

The literature of the 1920s in Buenos Aires was disseminated and discussed, with a clear distinction made before the public. Writers were grouped into two main streams:

Florida Group

(Street of leisure) This group looked towards Europe and the aesthetic developments of the postwar period.

Boedo Group

(Street factory) This group looked towards Russia and embraced the dream of universal revolution.

Buenos Aires in 1920

The city rapidly transformed into a modern setting due to heavy immigration, which revolutionized society, especially the porteña population. The majority of immigrants were Spanish and Italian, but there were also other nationalities. Immigrants and their children benefited from increased literacy... Continue reading "1920s Buenos Aires: Literary Movements, Youth, and Borges' Symbols" »

Pre-Theater 1936: Trends and Groups

The different groups and trends in the theater prior to 1936 are:

1. Bourgeois Comedy

Jacinto Benavente was its most representative author. He offered a theater with a greater interest in conversational dialogue and a more realistic tone.

The characters were bourgeois, and the topics covered were typical conflicts such as unrequited love and infidelity.

Among his works are "La Gobernadora" (The Housekeeper) and "Lo Inquilino" (The Unloved), a kind of theater that develops a violent world of uncontrolled passions for urban education.

2. Poetic Theater

It arises from modernism. It is a scene of pure evasion that retrieves historical and legendary themes.

Eduardo Marquina highlights "Las Hijas del Cid" (The Daughters... Continue reading "Spanish Theater Trends Before 1936: Key Playwrights & Movements" »

Understanding Literary Concepts and Spanish Postwar Novel

Key Literary Definitions

• Context: The set of words that precede or follow a text word or phrase, influencing its meaning.
• Location: The set of circumstances in which a language message is issued, affecting the determination of its meaning.

The Spanish Novel: Evolution and Characteristics

The novel is the literary genre that has most stood out in recent decades. Spanish narrators were divided into two groups: those in exile and those on the mainland. Among the authors in exile, the predominant theme was the Civil War and its aftermath. The novel evolves over decades, similar to the progression of other genres, with authors like Miguel Delibes and Carmen Martín Gaite.

The Novel in the 1940s

The... Continue reading "Spanish Novel Evolution: Postwar Eras and Literary Forms" »