Writing a Nation: The Literature of Puerto Rico

This course deals with the question of literature’s role in the development of Puerto Rico’s sense of nationhood, from the mid-19th-century until the present. We will particularly consider the tension Puerto Rican writers have historically experienced between the conflicting imperatives of political commitment and artistic freedom. Readings will thus be placed in the various social and cultural contexts of Puerto Rican history. Our readings will begin with texts by major 19th-century Puerto Rican authors, such as Alejandro Tapia y Rivera, Manuel Alonso, José Gautier Benítez, Lola Rodríguez de Tió, and Manuel Zeno Gandía. Twentieth and 21st-century readings will include selections by José de Diego, Luis Lloréns Torres, Luis Palés Matos, Julia de Burgos, Juan Antonio Corretjer, José Luis González, René Marqués, Luis Rafael Sánchez, Ana Lydia Vega, and Mayra Santos-Febres. (.5 unit)

(A Three Week Course).

Required texts: Luis Rafael Sánchez, Indiscreciones de un perro gringo (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico: Ediciones Santillana, 2007. ISBN: 1-57581-925-2); Luis Rafael Sánchez, La pasión según Antígona Pérez (Río Piedras, Puerto Rico: Editorial Cultural, most recent edition); Manuel Zeno Gandía, La charca (Ediciones del Norte, 2007. ISBN: 978-8493549343).