1. LATI 50 INTRODUCTION TO LATIN AMERICA WRITERS AND SOCIETY

2. WHERE ARE WE? Week 1: Introduction  Modern Latin America, chs. 1-2 Week 2: Dimensions of History  Modern Latin America, chs. 3 and 5 and website, Primary Documents 37, 39 Week 3: A World of Multiple Truths  Chronicle of a Death Foretold, entire Week 4: The Quest for Economic Development

3. COURSE MATERIALS Syllabus Class outlines Readings (available on reserve) Videos in Visual Arts Library “The Americas” MLA Website:  library.brown.edu/modernlatinamerica library.brown.edu/modernlatinamerica PHS Website:  pages.ucsd.edu/~phsmith

4. MID-TERM EXAM Thursday, February 19 12:30-1:50 pm Bring your own writing materials (blue books, pens) Study Guide to be distributed in advance  Identification items (NB significance!)  Short essays  Choices where possible

5. SOCIAL ROLES OF WRITERS IN LATIN AMERICA Defining national/cultural identity (partly in relation to United States)  “Ariel” by José Enrique Rodó (1900) Giving voice (and dignity) to general public Critic of social injustice: fiction as reality Celebrity status

6. MEANINGS OF “MAGICAL REALISM” Controversial term Imagination>objectivity as path to human truth Sublime>mundane, absurd>logical Juxtaposition: massive scale in tiny places Straightforward narration of preposterous people and events

7. THE “BOOM” Mid-1960s to 1990s (?) Latin America as culture and society, universalized at the same time Forefront of developing world

8. NOBEL LAUREATES 1945: Gabriela Mistral (Chile) 1967: Miguel Angel Asturias (Guatemala) 1971: Pablo Neruda (Chile) 1982: Gabriel García Márquez (Colombia) 1990: Octavio Paz (Mexico) 1992: Derek Walcott (Caribbean) 2010: Mario Vargas Llosa (Peru)