Ateneo - UPO

«El mejor de los [libros] de entretenimiento»: la novela bizantina como expresión de la cultura española del Siglo de Oro

REQUIRED READING:
- Miguel de Cervantes, “Los trabajos de Persiles y Sigismunda”, edición de Carlos Romero Muñoz, Madrid, Cátedra, 1997 and later reprints. [Alternatively: edición de Laura Fernández, notas de Ignacio García Aguilar y Carlos Romero Muñoz, estudio de Isabel Lozano-Renieblas y Laura Fernández, Madrid, Real Academia Española – Barcelona, Espasa, 2018 and later reprints.]
- Miguel de Cervantes, “El amante liberal”, in “Novelas ejemplares” (the text will be provided by the lecturer on the course’s DIR platform).
An anthology of excerpts, which will be uploaded to the course’s DIR platform.
Students who wish to use an edition of the “Persiles” other than those listed are asked to contact the lecturer.

FURTHER READING:
Handbooks on the Spanish Golden Age:
- Lina Rodríguez Cacho, “Manual de historia de la literatura española”, Madrid, Castalia, 2022, vol. 1.
- José Carlos Mainer (coord.), “Historia de la Literatura Española”, vol. 3: Pedro Ruiz Pérez, “El siglo del arte nuevo. 1598-1691”, Barcelona, Crítica, 2010.

Tools for textual analysis:
- Cesare Segre, “Avviamento all’analisi del testo letterario”, Torino, Einaudi, 1985 and later reprints.

On the Byzantine novel:
- Javier González Rovira, “La novela bizantina de la Edad de Oro”, Madrid, Gredos, 1996.

Studies on Cervantes and the “Persiles”:
- Aldo Ruffinatto, “Cervantes. Un profilo su smalti italiani”, Roma, Carocci, 2005 and later reprints.
- Isabel Lozano-Renieblas, “Cervantes y el mundo del «Persiles»”, Alcalá de Henares, Centro de Estudios Cervantinos, 1998.
- Juan Ramón Muñoz Sánchez, “El mejor de los libros de entretenimiento. Reflexiones sobre Los trabajos de Persiles y Sigismunda, historia septentrional, de Miguel de Cervantes”, Alcalá de Henares, Universidad de Alcalá, 2018.

In line with the specific educational objectives of the degree programme, the course aims to help students become able to find their way in the cultural landscape of Golden Age Spain. The basic objectives require students to know the features and development of the novela bizantina in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Spain, starting from Heliodorus’s Greek model; the ways in which the genre represents geographical, cultural and religious otherness; the terms of the sixteenth-century debate on verisimilitude and the marvellous; and the content and structure of “El amante liberal” and the “Persiles”, while consolidating their skills in the analysis of narrative texts. The advanced objectives require students to gain an in-depth knowledge of the topics covered and to be able to analyse a narrative text independently, assessing how it projects the imaginary of its time, reworks its sources, and engages with the precepts of poetics and the conventions of the literary genre.

The 6 ECTS credits are distributed as follows for students attending the course: 1.2 ECTS of lecture-based and interactive teaching; 4.8 ECTS of independent study.

Knowledge of Spanish at upper B2 level.

Lectures and seminar-style analysis of texts and documents.
Slide presentations featuring texts, maps, diagrams, charts 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.

The oral exam will be held in Spanish and will last about twenty minutes. Its purpose is to verify that the intended learning outcomes have been achieved. There is no set number of questions; the discussion will be built around three thematic areas: 1) the historical and cultural context of the novela bizantina in Golden Age Spain; 2) the analysis of an episode, a character or a theme from the “Persiles”, “El amante liberal” and/or one of the anthologised texts; 3) a commentary on an episode from the “Persiles” and/or “El amante liberal” not analysed in class, to verify that the student has actually read and understood the texts and has a good command of the tools of narrative analysis.

The final mark will be awarded according to the following bands: 18-23 (basic level), 24-27 (intermediate level), 28-30 with Honours (advanced level). Honours (lode) will be awarded to particularly outstanding performances that show a secure and in-depth knowledge of the topics covered, excellent command of expression, full mastery of the specific terminology, and the ability to analyse a narrative text independently and to offer a well-argued critical reading of it.

The exam will be failed in the case of serious gaps in preparation, poor expressive ability, minimal command of the specific terminology, and a lack of independent judgement.

The course focuses on the Golden Age novela bizantina, seen as an expression of Spanish culture in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The genre, rooted in the Greek model of Heliodorus’s “Aethiopica”, rose to become the ideal novel of the Counter-Reformation, in contrast to the romances of chivalry. It offers a key to understanding the cultural complexity of the period: its religious and moral values, its geographical imagination, and its encounter with the Other. Special attention will be paid to two works by Miguel de Cervantes: the novela ejemplar “El amante liberal” (1613) and his last novel, “Los trabajos de Persiles y Sigismunda” (1617).

The course is divided into two parts:
A. MONOGRAPHIC COURSE
Lecture notes and slides.
B. INSTITUTIONAL PART
Close reading of the complete texts of the “Persiles”, “El amante liberal” and the anthologised texts (see Textbooks > Required reading).
Historical and cultural background of the works and authors studied.

Guidelines for non-attending students:
Students who do not attend classes must replace part A with the study of the following works:
1) Javier González Rovira, “La novela bizantina de la Edad de Oro”, Madrid, Gredos, 1996 (up to and including the chapter on the “Persiles”).
2) Aldo Ruffinatto, “Cervantes. Un profilo su smalti italiani”, Roma, Carocci, 2005 and later reprints.
Part B (close reading of the complete texts and the historical and cultural background of the works and authors) remains unchanged.
As further support, students may also find it useful to consult a good handbook of textual analysis, such as Cesare Segre, “Avviamento all’analisi del testo letterario”, Torino, Einaudi, 1985 and later reprints. The intended learning outcomes and the exam format remain unchanged.
In any case, non-attending students are encouraged to contact the lecturer for guidance on study methods: carlo.basso@uniupo.it

By the end of the course, students are expected to have achieved the following basic intended learning objectives:
- Knowledge: knowledge of the features and development of the novela bizantina in Golden Age Spain; understanding of the ways in which the genre represents the imaginary of its time; knowledge of the terms of the sixteenth-century poetic debate on verisimilitude and the marvellous; knowledge of the content and structure of “El amante liberal” and the “Persiles”;
- Skills: the ability to relate the literary text to the models of the genre and to the scholarly, cartographic and theoretical sources of its time; consolidation of the tools and methods of narrative analysis;
- Transferable skills: the ability to present the course content clearly and effectively, setting it within an organic and coherent framework.

To demonstrate that they have achieved the advanced intended learning objectives, students will be required to show:
- Knowledge: in-depth knowledge of the topics covered;
- Skills: the ability to analyse a narrative text independently, relating it to the knowledge acquired;
- Transferable skills: the ability to express their own critical reading of the texts with independent judgement, in a well-argued and analytical manner.