COURSE SYLLABUS: THE MEXICAN SHORT STORY

Location: Oaxaca City, Mexico

Partner Institution: Universidad Autónoma de Benito Juárez de Oaxaca (UABJO)

Course Title: The Mexican Short Story

Course Title (Spanish): Introducción al cuento mexicano

Sessions offered: summer, winter, semester, spring break, intensive sessions

Instructional language: Spanish

Classroom Contact Hours: 45 contact hours

College Credit (Semester Credit Hours): 3 credit hours

College Credit (Quarter Units): 4 quarter units

Pre-requisites: Advanced I Spanish

Local Department: Español para Extranjeros

Course Code: SP 350

Course Description

This course will cover the most emblematic Mexican short stories of the 20th and the early 21st centuries.

Course Objectives

Students will learn about and analyze short stories produced by Mexico’s most distinguished authors. Students will identify their contributions to literature in terms of their language, esthetic renewal, history and identity.

Program

• Spanish language in Latin America, a brief historical overview
• The recourses of fiction, the art of narrative
• What is a short story?
• Narrators of the beginning of the 20th century: Manuel José Othón and Julio Torri
• Short stories of the Revolution: Nellie Campobello and Juan Rulfo
• Mexican short stories with a social orientation: José Revueltas
• Precursors of the modern Mexican short story: Juan José Arreola and Carlos Fuentes
• Short stories written by women: Elena Garro and Rosario Castellanos
• The half-century generation: Inés Arredondo, Sergio Pitol, Jorge Ibargüengoitia, Juan García Ponce, Humberto Elizondo, Edmundo Valadés, Vicente Leñero, Eraclio Zepeda and José Emilio Pacheco
• Post-modern Mexican short story: Augusto Monterroso, José Agustín and René Avilés Fabila
• Writers at the end of the 20th century and mini-fiction: Guillermo Samperio, Felipe Garrido and Alberto Chimal
• Contemporary Oaxacan short stories

Methodology

The teacher will give brief presentations on a range of subjects, using materials such as a projector and a white board. Students will analyze the reading materials from an interpretative perspective, examining the narrative, linguistic and historical resources.

Course Evaluation

Bibliography

• Bravo, Roberto et al. El cuento está en no creérselo, (The Story’s in not Believing it) Universidad Autónoma de Chiapas, México, 1985.
• Samperio, Guillermo, Después apareció una nave, recetas para nuevos cuentistas, (Then a Ship Appeared, Recipes for New Storytellers) Alfaguara, México, 2011.
• Zavala, Lauro, Relatos mexicanos postmodernos, (Post-Modern Mexican Short Stories) Alfaguara, México, 2007.

Contact Information:

SOL EDUCATION ABROAD

EMAIL: info@soleducation.com

WEB: www.soleducation.com

PHONE: 512.380.1003

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