"Spanish Civil War:Images&Words" - Freshman Seminar

Instructors

• Patricia Ellen Nichols

Meeting Info

• Kresge Centennial Hall 2-410 - MoWeFr 2:00PM - 2:50PM

Overview of class

• What does war look like? What exactly is an `image' of war? Is it possible to create artistic works that transcend time and place to become universal in their portrayal of the tragedy of war? Much of the artpaintings, photography, posters, novels, poetry---of the Spanish Civil War have become universal in their impact and scope. Despite being born of a single national feud, the art of the Spanish Civil War engenders the clash of ideologies and extremisms of the middle 20th century that reached their apex in the Second World War. Indeed, the Spanish Civil War may be understood as a `dress rehearsal' for the events that would soon follow and eventually shape European allegiances and foreign policy for decades to come. Despite its obvious importance in modern history, the Spanish Civil War is often given short shrift in American educational systems. Yet its relevance to understanding the international power struggles and eventual reshaping of the Western World in the second half of the 20th century cannot be underestimated. This course will explore the Spanish Civil War as presented in history, literature, art and film. We will explore the images of this conflict and how they have come to symbolize not just the Spanish tragedy but universal suffering as a consequence of modern warfare. We will examine the causes and consequences of the war as well as its cultural and political impact on Spain's later transition from dictatorship to democracy.

Teaching Method

• Discussion

Evaluation Method

• Participation 25%
  Paper 1 10%
  Paper 2 15%
  Group Presentations-Film 25%
  Final Paper 25%

Class Materials (Required)

• Literature:
  
  Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom the Bell Tolls
  Rivas, Manuel. The Carpenter's Pencil
  Rodoreda, Merce. The Time of the Doves
  
  
  History [Selections]:
  
  Beevor, Antony. The Battle for Spain, The Spanish Civil War 1936-39, 2006
  Carroll, Peter. Facing Fascism, NYU Press, 2007
  Carroll, Peter. The Odyssey of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, Stanford University Press, 1994.
  Eby, Cecil. Comrades and Commissars: The Lincoln Battalion in the Spanish Civil War, 2007.
  Preston, Paul. Franco. Harper Collins, 1994.
  Preston, Paul. Juan Carlos, W.W. Norton, 2004.
  Preston, Paul. The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revolution and Revenge, W.W. Norton, 1986.
  Thomas, Hugh. The Spanish Civil War. Simon & Schuster, 1961.
  Valis, Noël. Teaching Representations of the Spanish Civil War, 2007.
  
  
  Art [Selections]:
  
  Brunner, Kathleen, Picasso Rewriting Picasso. 2003.
  Heart of Spain: Robert Capa's Photographs of the Spanish Civil War, 1999.
  Geist, Anthony & Peter N. Carroll. They Still Draw Pictures: Children's Art in Wartime from the Spanish Civil War to Kosovo, 2002.
  Martin, Russell. Picasso's War: the Destruction of Guernica and the Masterpiece that changed the World. Dutton, 2002.
  Nelson, Cary. Shouts From the Wall, 1996.
  Tisa, John, ed. The Palette and the Flame: Posters of the Spanish Civil War. International Publishers, 1979.
  Van Hensbergen, Gijs. Guernica: The Biography of a 20th Century Icon, Bloomsbury, 2004.
  Vernon, Kathleen. The Spanish Civil War and the Visual Arts, Cornell University, 1990.

Class Attributes

• Given in English
  
  No P/N option for this section
  
  

Enrollment Requirements

• Enrollment Requirements: Reserved for Freshmen and Sophomores
  Add Consent: Department Consent Required
  Drop Consent: Department Consent Required
  

Current as of 05/03/13 01:05:08 PM

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