Contemporary Hispanic-American Narrative

Code:

LLC126

Acronym:

NHAC

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Literature

Instance: 2025/2026 - 2S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Department of Portuguese and Romance Studies
Course/CS Responsible:	Bachelor in Languages, Literatures and Cultures

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
LLC	0	Study plan	3	-	6	41	162
		study plan	2	-	6	41	162
			3

Teaching language

Portuguese and Spanish

Objectives

The main objectives of this course (UC) are:

1. To get to know, through an historical perspective, the main steps, movements, authors and plays of the Hispanic American narrative from the twentieth century until the present day.

2. To analyse, in a critical way, texts that are representative of the contemporary Hispanic American narrative, in order to identify it’s main characteristics, either thematic, formal or stylistic.

3. To discover the basic characteristics and peculiarities of the contemporary Hispanic American culture (historical, intellectual and artistic), through their literary texts.

4. To understand and value the contribution of the Hispanic American contemporary narrative to the western culture.

Learning outcomes and competences

In order to assure coherence, a reflexion was made on the competences and knowledge that were expected as student’s achievements, starting from what they usually know about the issues in the beginning of the school year, to their learning needs, and the application of the new knowledge in their training.

This way, in order to achieve the objectives of the curricular unit, a selection was made among the key points of the Hispanic American literature, it’s contemporary narrative and among the diverse literary texts of it’s most representative authors, providing the students with the tools needed for an adequate critical analysis and for the discovery of the fundamental characteristics of the contemporary Hispanic American culture (historical, intellectual and artistic), and so, to be aware of the important contribution of this narrative for the western culture.

Working method

Presencial

Program

I. The regional novel.
1. The Mexican revolution novel.
2. The countryside novel.
3. The indigenous novel.

II. The new Hispanic American narrative.
4. Characteristics.
5. The authors before the 60’s.
6. The authors after the 60’s.

III. The postmodern narrative.
7. Characteristics.
8. Consolidation of Narrative Written by Women.

Mandatory literature

Azuela, Mariano; Los^de abajo. ISBN: 84-376-0226-2
García Márquez, Gabriel, 1928-2014; Cien anos de soledad. ISBN: 84-239-1900-5
Icaza, Jorge; Huasipungo. ISBN: 84-376-1251-9
Jorge Luis Borges; El Aleph. ISBN: 84-206-1309-6
Julio Cortázar; Final del juego
Miguel Ángel Asturias; El^senor presidente. ISBN: 84-206-1829-2
Ricardo Guiraldes; Don Segundo Sombra. ISBN: 84-376-0151-7
Rivera José Eustasio; La^voragine
Rulfo, Juan; Pedro Páramo. ISBN: 84-376-0418-4
Sábato, Ernesto; El túnel. ISBN: 84-322-3003-0

Complementary Bibliography

Aínsa, F.; Narrativa hispanoamericana del siglo XX. Del espacio vivido al espacio del texto., Prensas Universitarias, 2003
Bellini, G.; Nueva historia de la literatura hispanoamericana., Castalia, 1997
Brushwood, J.; La novela hispanoamericana del siglo XX. Una vista panorámica., FCE, 1984
Burgos, F. (Ed.).; El cuento hispanoamericano., Castalia, 1997
Fernández Moreno, C. ; América Latina en su literatura., Siglo XXI y UNESCO, 1972
Gálvez, M.; La novela hispanoamericana del s. XX., Cincel, 1981
Lázaro Carreter Fernando; Cómo se comenta un texto literario
Oviedo, J. M.; Historia de la literatura hispanoamericana. (Vol. 3 y 4)., Alianza, 1997
Pedraza Jiménez, F. B. (Coord.).; Manual de literatura hispanoamericana VI. La época contemporánea: prosa., Cénlit, 2007
Pupo Walker, E. (Coord.).; El cuento hispanoamericano., Castalia, 1995
Shaw, D. S. ; Nueva narrativa hispanoamericana. Boom, postboom, postmodernismo., Cátedra, 1999
Villanueva, D. & Viña Liste, J. M. ; Trayectoria de la novela hispanoamericana actual., Espasa Calpe, 1991

Teaching methods and learning activities

This UC implies the frequency of theoretical-practical sessions where the constructive dialogue between professor and students will be fundamental, promoting a combination of deductive and inductive learning. Classes will be taught in Spanish, although students are allowed to submit written tests in Portuguese. The support materials will be available at Moodle, so that the students may follow the subjects presented.

The professor will choose 3 books for the students to read, from this list:
-Los de abajo de M. Azuela
-La vorágine - J. E. Rivera
-Don Segundo Sombra - R. Güiraldes
-Huasipungo - J. Icaza
-El Señor Presidente - M. A. Asturias
-Pedro Páramo - J. Rulfo
-El túnel - E. Sábato
-Cien años de soledad - G. García Márquez
-The short story in the Hispanic American narrative (Borges, Cortázar, Valenzuela, Lemebel, Ocampo...).


In order to achieve the objectives of the curricular unit, the option was a methodology in which the student acquires the contents of the subject either in a deductive way, through the theoretical explanations of the themes done by the professor, or in an inductive way, reading and analysing texts that exemplify the characteristics of the work of an author or a literary trend in order to determine the general traces of a specific literary movement. The texts are given by the professor and placed at the virtual platform of the FLUP (Moodle). They consist of support materials in pdf format for each theme of the programme. These materials are a careful selection of fragments of works or literary manifestos that will be used as examples for analysis in class. Theoretical schemes will be included for studying the main characteristics of the Contemporary Hispanic American narrative, as well as bibliography and internet references, where the student is offered a collection of internet links and online articles that will help them enlarge their knowledge of the theme and to get informed in an autonomous way about other issues related to the subject.

Special emphasis is made in providing students with abilities to associate literary movements with other cultural manifestations or thoughts. In order to do so, it is usual, in class, to relate different cultural references with the texts analysed.

Audiovisual documents, reports and television interviews are of common use, extracted mainly from the archives of the Radio televisión española (RTVE). These resources help the student to analyse the literary texts as a whole, understanding and visualising the society and the cultural ambience in which they arose, as well as listening to the writers explaining the characteristics of their works, the intentionality behind their creation, and the social context in which they were made.

As said before, the students have to, not only, analyse fragments of works, but also read some complete works (suggested readings).

keywords

Humanities > Literature > American literature

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation without final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Teste	90,00
Participação presencial	10,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Estudo autónomo	121,00
Frequência das aulas	41,00
Total:	162,00

Eligibility for exams

Class attendance minimum of 75% of the lessons, except in the predicted cases.

Calculation formula of final grade

The assessment is distributed without final exam and consists of four components:

- Written test 1 (6/20)

- Written test 2 (6/20)

- Written test 3 (6/20)

- Active and spontaneous participation in classes: (2/20)


Students who fail the ordinary assessment will be able to take a written recovery exam (20/20) on all the contents of the course in June.

Examinations or Special Assignments

Not applicable.

Internship work/project

Not applicable.

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

Students with special status who do not take the distributed assessment tests without a final exam will be assessed by a final exam (written) on all the contents of the course in June (on a date to be agreed with the teachers) or in the Special Period.

Classification improvement

In this subject, it is foreseen the possibility of improving the classification through the realization of a global written test (20 points - 100%) in June, related to the totality of the contents taugh.

Observations

ATTENTION: For more detailed information, please check the UC at Moodle at the beginning of the semester.