Carroll B. Johnson. Don Quixote: The Quest for Modern Fiction. Waveland Press. (QT)

DQ – FL385 Coursepacket Assorted xeroxed Texts (CPK)

Jean Canavaggio. Cervantes. Norton.

J.H. Elliott. Imperial Spain. New American Library.

Henry Kamen. Spain 1469-1714: A Society of Conflict, 2nd ed., Addison-Wesley.

Having in mind the above observations, this course aims to carry out a close reading of Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quijote (1605, 1615). The course will place the text in its cultural and historical setting, illuminate aspects that non-native readers may find obscure, and show its importance in modern fiction. Indeed, the course wants to demonstrate how our own modes of reading are predicated on what Cervantes' text accomplished beginning almost four-hundred years ago.

a) One (1) mid-term exam.

b) Three (3) critical response essays.

c) One (1) research paper.

d) One (1) reading journal.

I. Class participation is fundamental. This assumes that you will read the assigned texts critically and in a detailed fashion. It is to be expected that you will arrive to class ready to answer questions, pose discussion topics, and engage in the detailed discussion of the works. It is your responsibility to contact me prior to class if you cannot meet the above expectations on a given day.

II. Each absence above the maximum number of three (3) will reduce class participation grade one full point: A to A-, B- to C+, etc. Exceptions to this rule may be granted in case of special circumstances. Your class partipation grade amounts to 25% of the final grade.

III. Assigned papers are to be handed in by the stipulated deadline. Extensions or late submissions are not possible. The group project will be presented during the the final days of the semester. Once groups are formed they shold meet throught the term to work collaboratively. The project must include a research component and may include a performance or a multimedia component.

IV. Missing a test or skipping an assignment implies your willingness to forgo all credit for the work in question.

V. The syllabus is your road map to the course. Study it carefully and on a daily basis.

a) One (1) mid-term exam. 15%

b) Three (3) response papers. 25%

c) One semester-length group project 25%

d) One (1) reading journal 10%

e) Class participation* 25%

• Class discussion of assigned readings is linked to the points raised by the Reading Guides available in the course's website. Although I do not expect you to have ready-made answers or comments to each and every issue, you should use them as a general outline to our discussions.
• Reading Reports: For every class period a student will present a short summary of the main points in terms of plot and meaning.
• The Reading Guides, though, are not to hold us captive to one line of inquiry. It is expected that as a result of our reading experience new avenues of discussion will emerge. Digressing is not a problem if it leads to a richer understanding of the literary experience.
• The Critical Journal is a special notebook where you will write down your critical thoughts, comments, questions, etc. as you read the texts. Bring this notebook to class so that you can use it to generate discussion points.
• There are three response papers to be completed in this course. This kind of paper requires you to think in critical terms. It is a matter of using your intellect and not your heart. What I want from you is to see you putting together answers to what appears problematic in the fiction. I want to see you using your knowledge of literature, history, and culture in approaching the reading experience.

Allen, John J. Don Quixote, Hero or Fool? 2 vols. Gainsville: U. of Florida Press, 1969, 1979.

Close, Anthony J. The Romantic Approach to "Don Quixote." Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977.

Cruz, Anne J. and Carroll B. Johnson. Cervants and His Postmodern Constituencies. New York: Garland Publications, 1999.

Dudley, Edward J., The Endless Text. "Don Quixote" and the Hermeneutics of Romance. Albany: SUNY Press, 1997.

El Saffar, Ruth. Critical Essays on Cervantes. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1986.

_____. Distance and Control in "Don Quixote": A Study in Narrative Technique. Chapel Hill: U. of North Carolina Press, 1975.

El Saffar Ruth and Diana de Armas Wilson. Quixotic Desire: Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Cervantes. Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1993.

Gerli, E. Michael. Refiguring Authority: Reading, Writing, and Rewriting in Cervantes. Lexington, KY: U. of Kentucky Press, 1995.

Johnson, Carroll B. Madness and Lust: A Psychoanalitical Approach to "Don Quixote". Berkeley and Los Angeles: U. of California Press, 1983.

Mancing, Howard. The Chivalric World of "Don Quixote": Style, Structure, and Narrative Technique. Columbia, MO: U. of Missouri Press, 1982.

Murillo, Luis A. A Critical Introduction to "Don Quixote". New York: Peter Lang, 1988.

Parr, James A. "Don Quixote": An Anatomy of subversive Discourse, Newark, DE: Juan de la Cuesta, 1988.

Predmore, Richard L. The World of "Don Quixote". Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1967.

Reed, Walter L. An Exemplary History of the Novel: The Quixotic versus the Picaresque. Chicago: U of Chicago Press, 1981.

Riley, Edward C. Cervantes's History of the Novel. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1964.

Spitzer, Leo. "Linguistic Perspectivism in Don Quixote," in Linguistics and Literary History, 41–85. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1967.

Acronyms:

––Texts:

CPK = Coursepack FL 385

DQ = Don Quijote, Trans. Burton Raffel, Norton Critical Edition

(In the calendar DQ = ancillary readings, DQI and DQII = first and second parts of Don Quijote)

QT = Don Quixote: The Quest for Modern Fiction, Carroll B. Johnson

––Other:

BG = Background sources

CE = Critical essays

X = Xeroxed handout

NOTE: Read the assigned pages before the day on which they appear listed in the calendar.

The latter indicates the matter to be discussed during each class period.