Course Description: Critical study of representative authors from colonial times to the twentieth century. Introduces students to key works by writers such as: Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, Ruben Dario, Gabriela Mistral, Jorge Luis Borges, Juan Rulfo, etc. By exposing students to these literary texts, the course will focus on further developing academic writing and its genres (narrative, persuasive, expository). Taught in English
Course Narrative: In this course we analyzed a variety of translated works from Colonial times to 21st-century literature. We were able to examine words and cultural backgrounds which could not be translated into English, and the loss of the original meaning in some of those literary works. In this course, we did a book review and an analytical essay from a novel of our preference, besides a final presentation about the novel background and bibliographical information about the author of it. My analysis was based on the novel Before the Night Falls a Memoir by Reinaldo Arenas and translated by Dolores Koch. The memoir contains the experiences of Arenas from his childhood until his death, but also, the persecution of the community LGTBQ+ and the censorship by the dictatorship of Fidel Castro. In addition, we did a parallelism between our chosen work and a literature work discussed in class, for which I selected the short story “He Has Gone” by Benjamin Saenz whereupon the central themes are disappearances and the discrimination of minorities. My essay exposed the cruel discrimination against homosexuals during La Revolución Cubana, creating a hostile environment for Cuban society, and finding ways to get out from the island and live in exile as Reinaldo Arenas did, fighting to overthrow Castro’s dictatorship. I could find historical events and ideologies that are part of the Latin American culture that does not have an exact translation but have to be explained or described by the translator to accomplish the same purpose of the author in the original work. This course helps me to learn different techniques to translate into English cultural phrases, and creeds from Latin American culture.
Course Narrative: In this course we analyzed a variety of translated works from Colonial times to 21st-century literature. We were able to examine words and cultural backgrounds which could not be translated into English, and the loss of the original meaning in some of those literary works. In this course, we did a book review and an analytical essay from a novel of our preference, besides a final presentation about the novel background and bibliographical information about the author of it. My analysis was based on the novel Before the Night Falls a Memoir by Reinaldo Arenas and translated by Dolores Koch. The memoir contains the experiences of Arenas from his childhood until his death, but also, the persecution of the community LGTBQ+ and the censorship by the dictatorship of Fidel Castro. In addition, we did a parallelism between our chosen work and a literature work discussed in class, for which I selected the short story “He Has Gone” by Benjamin Saenz whereupon the central themes are disappearances and the discrimination of minorities. My essay exposed the cruel discrimination against homosexuals during La Revolución Cubana, creating a hostile environment for Cuban society, and finding ways to get out from the island and live in exile as Reinaldo Arenas did, fighting to overthrow Castro’s dictatorship. I could find historical events and ideologies that are part of the Latin American culture that does not have an exact translation but have to be explained or described by the translator to accomplish the same purpose of the author in the original work. This course helps me to learn different techniques to translate into English cultural phrases, and creeds from Latin American culture.
Course Evidence:
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