Drago - 1927 - Alejandro Xul Solar (Argentina, 1887-1963)

Important! All students should see the on-line reading list for the Topics section of this paper -- some of the topics have recently changed. (A description of the Paper is also available in the Handbook.)

* Please note that this list and this order are only suggested, based on what students have found interesting to study in the past. None of the either/or options are intended to rule out a particular combination. Part II is about personal choice, and you can greatly improve your enjoyment of the paper if you do some exploratory reading in advance, over the vacation. You will then be in a position to say what you want to study and what you are not interested in. For Part II you are expected to have read a very wide range of texts, and you will find your year's study much more relaxed and enjoyable if you have done this preparatory reading. Note that for this paper you must answer at least one question from Section A (Topics in Latin American Culture), and at least one of your answers must relate to poetry.

The supervision schedule below was prepared by Geoffrey Kantaris, and will probably not reflect what other supervisors may wish to do with their students. Although four supervisions are shown, it is now Departmental practice to recommend only three supervisions per term, and in any case you would only be expected to write three essays per term.

FIRST TERM:

1. Juan Rulfo Pedro Páramo and El llano en llamas.

2. Manuel Puig Boquitas pintadas and El beso de la mujer araña; or Isabel Allende Eva Luna / Laura Esquivel, Como agua para chocolate (for the Popular Culture or Escritura femenina topics, NB Allende no longer has a single-author question on the paper) 

3. Pablo Neruda poems from the Residencias cycle and El canto general; or Vicente Huidobro Altazor and Temblor del cielo (for the Poesía de vanguardia topic); or Rosario Castellanos Balún Canán and Oficio de tinieblas (as an author in her own right or for the Escritura femenina topic).

4. Jorge Luis Borges El informe de Brodie and El Aleph (also for the Short Story topic); or César Vallejo (see below); or the Post Dictatorship Argentine Cinema topic; or Marta Traba Conversación al sur and En cualquier lugar.

SECOND TERM:

5. Carlos Fuentes Cambio de piel, and either La región más transparente or La muerte de Artemio Cruz (also for the Experimental Fiction topic); or Julio Cortázar Rayuela (and, if you have read them in advance, 62: Modelo para armar and Los premios); or Alejo Carpentier El siglo de las luces and Los pasos perdidos; or Rosario Castellanos (see above).

6. César Vallejo Poemas humanos, Trilce, España, aparta de mí este cáliz (also for Poesía de vanguardia topic); or Pablo Neruda (see above); or Vicente Huidobro (see above); or Alejandra Pizarnik & Alfonsina Storni (for the Women's Poetry topic); or the Urban Culture/Cinema topic (e.g., Sábato, Sobre héroes y tumbas and and Cortázar, Rayuela, or Sergio Cabrera's film La estrategia del caracol and Víctor Gaviria's La vendedora de rosas, or Amores perros).

7. Rosario Castellanos Balún Canán and Oficio de tinieblas; or Julio Cortázar Los premios, 62, modelo para armar (for the Experimental Fiction topic); or Marta Traba (see above); or the Poesía de vanguardia topic; or Visual Identities (visual arts topic [with Erica Segre]).

8. Octavio Paz poems from Libertad bajo palabra (especially the collection La estación violenta); or Gabriel García Márquez El otoño del patriarca, El amor en los tiempos del cólera, etc. (for the Magic Realism topic); or the Novela de la dictadura topic (e.g., Luisa Valenzuela, Cola de lagartija, Cristina Peri Rossi, La nave de los locos, Roa Bastos, Yo el Supremo); or Rosario Castellanos (see above).

THIRD TERM:

9. Any other option not studied above, or revision.

10. Revision

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