Ateneo - UPO

Overview of contemporary Fiction

Suggested Bibliography: -Pozuelo Yvancos, José María, Figuraciones del yo en la narrative: Javier Marías y E. Vila-Matas, Valladolid: Universidad de Valladolid, 2010. -Rodríguez de Arce, Ignacio, El gesto postmoderno en la narrativa de Javier Cercas: de 1987 a 2012, Roma : Aracne Editrice, 2021. -Abellán-García Barrio, Álvaro (coord.)., Mundos posibles poéticos : el caso de Patria : el pueblo, la novela, la serie, Madrid : Los Libros de la Catarata, 2023. -Serna, Justo, Historia y ficción : conversaciones con Javier Cercas, Madrid: Punto de Vista Editores, 2019.

BASIC EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES: 1. KNOWLEDGE Framing of the narrative production of 4 different authors in the context regarding the evolution of the genre and Spain’s history from the postwar period until today. 2. SKILLS Ability to relate literary techniques and themes with the evolution of the genre and with the socio-historical context of Spain. Acquisition of the main textual analysis tools of a novel. 3. TRANSVERSAL SKILLS Ability of clear and concise presentation, with an organic vision of the concepts of the course. HIGHER LEVEL EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES: 1. SKILLS Being able to analyze a narrative text highlighting its diversity with respect to the generic canon, in an evolutionary framework of the literary phenomenon. 2. TRANSVERSAL SKILLS Ability to express one's own vision of the text, with autonomy of judgment, in a reasoned and analytical way.

Knowledge of Spanish at B1 level

Lectures, seminar on text analysis. Projection of slides with texts, diagrams, graphs and images

Students with physical disabilities, Learning Disabilities or Special Education Needs can request specific services and tools via the Staff Sviluppo e Coordinamento Carriere e Servizi alle Studentesse e agli Studenti, consulting the University webpage: https://www.uniupo.it/en/services/services-students-physical-or-learning-disabilities Students with disabilities, learning disabilities or special education needs, once they have contacted the University Staff, can refer to the tutor in charge of the course to define the examination modalities, concerning academic aspects.

Oral exam lasting about twenty minutes, in Italian. The preparation of the student on the following topics will contribute equally to the final evaluation: • History of Spanish fiction from the post-civil war to the present day. • History of Spain of the same period. • Analysis of the proposed texts and their placement within the production of the respective authors. • Evaluation of the relationship between the proposed texts and the evolution of the novel's code, also in relation to the historical-social context. To achieve top marks, the student has to demonstrate excellent knowledge of the topics covered in the course, great expressive mastery, mastery of textual analysis terminology, personal content processing skills. An exam will be evaluated as sufficient if the student reveals some lack of preparation in the topics covered, expressive difficulties, not complete mastery of literary technical language and little autonomy of judgment. Finally, the student's exam showing large gaps in preparation, poor expressive ability, minimal knowledge of analysis techniques and no independence of criteria will be considered insufficient.

The course will provide an overview of the late 900s and early 2000s Spanish novel. Based on the analysis of techniques and narrative structure, we will try to distinguish between the different trends of contemporary novel starting from the study of four samples. The module consists of 2 parts: A. COURSE B. INSTITUTIONAL PART. Analytical reading of the text - preferably in Spanish - and literary-historical background of the author of the following works: Javier Cercas, “Soldados de Salamina” (“Soldati di Salamina”, Guanda, 2016) Javier Marías, “Corazón tan blanco“ (“Un cuore così bianco”, Einaudi, 2014) Fernando Aramburu, “Patria” (“Patria”, Guanda, 2019)

EXPECTED RESULTS FOR BASIC PREPARATION: 1. KNOWLEDGE Knowledge of the history of Spanish fiction of the second half of the 20th century and the beginning of the 2000s. Knowledge of Spanish history of the same period. Reading of the proposed texts and their classification within the production of the respective authors. 2. SKILLS Acquisition of a novel analysis method. Being able to evaluate the degree of adhesion of a given work to the code of the genre and to the literary movement in which it belongs. 3. TRANSVERSAL SKILLS Ability to clearly explain the topics of the course, with a good overview. EXPECTED RESULTS FOR HIGHER PREPARATION: 1. SKILLS Distinction between the different trends of the novel starting from the analysis of narrative techniques. 2. TRANSVERSAL SKILLS Being able to present and defend one's judgment on a theoretical and practical basis. Being able to express the results of literary analysis with the appropriate terminology and with ideas for personal elaboration and independence of judgment.