SPAN 300 1 - Femmes Fatales, Murderers, and Other Outcasts: Spanish Noir and Detective Fiction

The primary focus of this course is to introduce students to the origins, developments, distinguishing elements, and ideological uses of Spanish noir and detective fiction. The course includes a selection of primary works in literature and cinema from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present, as well as critical articles that analyze these genres from different perspectives (history, sociology, psychology, gender). The authors included are Manuel V. Montalbán, Rosa Montero, Juan Madrid, Patricia Ferreira, and Enrique Urbizu, among others. The main goals of this interdisciplinary course are two. First, to give students a better understanding of the use of this broad genre as a cultural space to discuss, denounce, and advance social and political issues at a national and global level. Second, to provide them with the basic tools to analyze the selected works critically and logically. Particular attention will be given to gender role representation, aesthetics, and leitmotifs. Prerequisite: SPAN 350 or permission of instructor.