Literature and Resistance
Summary
The relationship between literature and ideology dominates cultural currents throughout the 20th century up to the present day. Events such as the Russian Revolution, the anti-fascist resistance, the Maquis (the anti-Franco guerrilla) and culture in exile, the revolts against colonialism, 1968, the Vietnam War, the armed struggle of the 1970s, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the fall of the Berlin Wall and its consequences, or the interventionism of the 21st century have created a production of writings that, despite being presented as works of fiction, remain linked to an immediate historical reality. This course suggests a study of this literary genre.
What Do We Study
The course will be divided into two blocs, one dedicated to the analysis of texts of “resistance” that promote revolutionary, antagonistic or protesting attitudes, and the other devoted to the organization of these productions according to the different forms that realism (or anti-realism) assume in the face of History.
Which is the Line of Thought
We will focus on essays on literature, politics, and compromise.
Theoretical and Practical Approaches
Ardolino, Francesco & Elena Losada, eds. Violència i Identitat. Edicions de la UB, 2017.
Aronica, Daniela. El Neorrealismo italiano. Síntesis, 2004.
Baumeister, Andrea T., & John Horton, eds. Literature and the Political Imagination. Routledge, 1996.
Carbó, Ferran, Dolors Jiménez & Ramon X. Rosselló, eds. Les literatures catalana i francesa: postguerra i engagement. Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat, 2000.
Cavarero, Adriana. Orrorismo. Feltrinelli, 2007.
Debord, Guy. La société du spectacle. 1967. Catalan translation: https://ca.wikisource.org/wiki/La_Societat_de_l%27Espectacle.
Fanon, Frantz. Els condemanats de la terra. 1961. Tigre de paper, 2020.
Hawkes, David. Ideology. Routledge, 1996.
Simbor, Vicent. El realisme compromès en la narrativa catalana de postguerra. Publicacions de l'Abadia de Montserrat, 2005.
Trodd, Zoe, ed. American Protest Literature. Harvard University Press, 2006.
The course will be taught in Catalan.