Spanish Literature Commons^™

Horror Stories: Oblivious Women In Luis Puenzo’S La Historia Oficial (1985) And Santiago Mitre’S Argentina 1985 (2022), Stephanie R. Orozco

The Coastal Review: An Online Peer-reviewed Journal

Adriana Cavarero's conceptualization of Medusa serves as a potent metaphor for the subtle redirection of violence of oblivious women who ignored the brutalization of pregnant victims during Argentina’s military dictatorship (1976-83). In Luis Puenzo’s La historia oficial (1985) and Santiago Mitre’s Argentina 1985 (2022), skillfully unveil the ghastly practice of torturing pregnant women, unraveling the vulnerability of both mothers and their infants, evoking a sense of disgust and repugnance that is eventually shared by oblivious women. Beyond mere storytelling, these films challenge prevailing power dynamics and discourses, shedding light on the complicit ignorance of elite women during an era marked …

Between Pain And Glory: Memory Disputes Of The Brazilian Dictatorship In Retrato Calado And O Que É Isso, Companheiro?, Angela R. Mooney

The Coastal Review: An Online Peer-reviewed Journal

This article analyzes Luiz Roberto Salinas Fortes’ Retrato calado (Silent Portrait) published in 1988, considering the theoretical discussions on testimonio's epistemology—addressing the challenge of narrating trauma and the risk of stylization. It compares Fortes' memoir with Fernando Gabeira's O que é isso, companheiro? (What's This, Comrade?) from 1979, examining diverse approaches to capturing historical trauma through literature and its impact on collective memory about Brazilian Dictatorship (1964-1985).

Learning Chinese Vocabulary: Understanding Students' Perspectives, Austin Gasiecki, Zuotang Zhang

The Coastal Review: An Online Peer-reviewed Journal

This study used a survey to investigate self-study and university-enrolled Chinese learners’ habits in studying Chinese vocabulary in order to determine what study methods influence a.) learners’ confidence in learning Chinese vocabulary and b.) what aspects of Chinese vocabulary they consider easy or difficult. We were particularly interested in seeing what the data had to say about students’ attitudes towards characters and the written language, given that the field of Chinese language pedagogy is known for a stronger focus on the written language as opposed to the spoken language. We found that aspects of Chinese vocabulary associated with the spoken …

Decolonizing French: Afrophonics In Ken Bugul’S Aller Et Retour (2013), Hapsatou Wane

The Coastal Review: An Online Peer-reviewed Journal

This article explores the innovative language strategies employed by Senegalese writer Ken Bugul in her novel Aller et retour to construct a dynamic and interconnected linguistic landscape that challenges fixed language boundaries. Ken Bugul's "langue fabriquée" combines elements of French, Wolof, and English, reflecting a transglocal dimension that embodies the essence of afrophonics—a poetics of resistance that empowers local cultures in a globalized context. Through a detailed analysis of Ken Bugul's linguistic choices, including the use of quotation marks, footnotes, and arbitrary transcription, the study reveals how she creates a language that defies categorization and decolonizes French without resorting to …

La Radical Imperfección Del Mundo: El Crimen Perfecto De Jean Baudrillard Y El Crimen Ferpecto De Alex De La Iglesia, Maria A. Gomez

The Coastal Review: An Online Peer-reviewed Journal

Le parfait crime (1995) by Jean Baudrillard and Crimen ferpecto (2004) by the Basque director Alex de la Iglesia are two works that not only have in common almost identical titles. They both reflect on how in consumer societies, an imperfect real world is substituted for an illusory hyperreality in which the distinction between subject and object has disappeared. While Baudrillard explains how the denial of a transcendent reality in contemporary society is “a perfect crime” that destroys the real, Alex de la Iglesia uses black humor and a mix of genres (mainly grotesque comedy and thriller) to show the …

De Médée À La Sorcière : Reconstruction D’Un Mythe Par Michelet, Caroline Strobbe

The Coastal Review: An Online Peer-reviewed Journal

In La Sorcière, Jules Michelet uses the strength and the myth of the Medea character, which had already fascinated Corneille. In the second part of his work, Michelet creates nominative witches after authentic texts. In the first part, he creates an allegoric witch on the Medea model: the Woman, a victim of arbitrariness, injustice and repression, rises up against her oppressors, figuring the march of Humanity towards Enlightenment and Liberty. The analogies between the Witch and Medea are therefore numerous and necessary, since they help to render the defense of the oppressed against the oppressor. Would the somber Medea, …

Stephen Ross, Editor. Modernism, Theory, And Responsible Reading: A Critical Conversation. Bloomsbury Academic, 2022., Anne Cunningham

Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature

Review of Stephen Ross, editor. Modernism, Theory, and Responsible Reading: A Critical Conversation. Bloomsbury Academic, 2022. 239 pp

Pensar El Límite: El Símbolo Indígena En Los Proyectos Políticos Cubanos De Principios Del Siglo Xix, Jorge L. Camacho

The Coastal Review: An Online Peer-reviewed Journal

This article investigates the way in which Cuban literature reflected on indigenous people during the early half of the nineteenth century and uses the symbol of the Amerindians to demonstrate a moral disjuncture between them and the colonizer. In this article, I call attention to the way Cuban independentists and Spanish nationalists used this figure to support their views and thus created a split in the Cuban creole imagination. I start by pointing out that these appropriations started at the end of the 18th century when historian José Martín Félix de Arrate, and poets such as Miguel González and Manuel …

La “Border Culture” Del Personaje Mexicoamericano En El Sureste De Estados Unidos En Los Cuentos De Lorraine López Y Mijito Doesn’T Live Here Anymore De Jaime Martínez, Jaime Chavez

The Coastal Review: An Online Peer-reviewed Journal

This paper explores the concepts of "Border Culture" and "Borderlands" by Gloria Anzaldúa in Soy la Avon Lady and Other Stories, Homicide Survivors Picnic and Other Stories, by Lorraine López and the novel Mijito Doesn’t Live Here Anymore by Jaime Martínez. The paper argues that the Mexican American character in the southeast of the United States lives in the "Borderlands" and practices a "Border Culture" because they don't follow the traditional stereotypical role of the Mexican American character within the literary canon of both the dominant culture and Chicana/o literature.

Gender And Violence In Spanish Culture: From Vulnerability To Accountability Edited By María José Gámez Fuentes And Rebeca Maseda García (Review), Angela M. Acosta

Vernacular: New Connections in Language, Literature, & Culture

No abstract provided.

Deconstructing Feminine And Feminist Fantastic Through The Study Of Living Dolls, Raquel Velázquez

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her "Deconstructing Feminine and Feminine Fantastic through the Study of Living Dolls," Raquel Velázquez analyzes the treatment of one idiosyncratic image within the fantastic genre, and one that also has a special impact on the configuration of the feminine: the doll. On the one hand, she examines the evolution of this fantastic motif in order to determine whether it involves a transformation of how the feminine fantastic is represented. On the other hand, she establishes some correlations between the image of the fantastic doll, and the development of processes such as the dollification of women or the humanization of …

Using A Smart Phone To Learn Spanish: Does It Work And Will Students Use It?, Andrew J. Demil, Alysha Assaf, Ryan Cragun

The Coastal Review: An Online Peer-reviewed Journal

Over time, mobile devices have penetrated the classroom, requiring new and beneficial ways to implement classroom instruction. Research suggests that Short Message Service (SMS) based instruction is an effective tool for acquiring second language (L2) vocabulary and idiom knowledge (Hayati, Jalilifar, & Mashhadi; Lu,). Additionally, studies have found that students believe that mobile learning (m-learning) is beneficial to acquiring a second language (Cavus & Ibrahim; Hayati, Jalilifar, & Mashhadi; Lu, 2008). This study examined whether m-learning can lead to Spanish vocabulary familiarity and if sentence comprehension outperforms reading definitions. Participants were 29 native English speakers studying Spanish as a second …

La Reivindicación Del Monstruo En La Obra De Pilar Pedraza: De Las Novias Inmóviles A El Amante Germano., Lola Robles

Alambique. Revista académica de ciencia ficción y fantasía / Jornal acadêmico de ficção científica e fantasía

Digna heredera de la narrativa de Mary Shelley, la autora española Pilar Pedraza (Toledo, 1951) ha escrito y publicado una docena de novelas, varios libros de relatos y numerosos cuentos en antologías colectivas, a lo que hay que añadir una serie de ensayos sobre el papel de las mujeres en el arte, cine y literatura, y sobre brujería. Estas publicaciones ensayísticas muestran claramente la concepción del mundo que tiene Pedraza y son un buen correlato de su narrativa, tal como veremos. Su obra de ficción se inscribe dentro de la literatura de terror fantástico o se la define también simplemente …

A Story To Tell… How To Integrate The Three Modes Of Communication Through A Story Time Program In French, Frederique Grim

The Coastal Review: An Online Peer-reviewed Journal

Bilingual story time programs found in local community libraries not only benefit children, they can also serve a need for L2 college students: the development of their communicative skills in an authentic environment. In addition to linguistic benefits, experiential learning has proven to prepare students for real-world skills, such as networking, mock professional experience and a sense of community engagement. This paper recounts how a world language story time program supports L2 learners’ three modes of communication, as articulated by ACTFL, and necessary for language development. Based on students’ perceptions, this study highlights their increase in motivation and confidence in …

Iker González-Allende. Hombres En Movimiento: Masculinidades Españolas En Los Exilios Y Emigraciones, 1939-1999. Purdue Up, 2018., Jeffrey Zamostny

Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature

Review of Iker González-Allende. Hombres en movimiento: Masculinidades españolas en los exilios y emigraciones, 1939-1999. Purdue UP, 2018.

Actaeon, Artichokes, And Audrey Ii: Fear And Food In Popular Narratives, Margaret E. Foster

Scholarly Undergraduate Research Journal at Clark (SURJ)

Food has a dual physical and sociocultural relationship to human life. This duality positions images of food as uniquely powerful when subverted in literary or aesthetic representations for the purpose of evoking what Joyce Carol Oates (1998) calls “aesthetic fear.” Drawing on symbolism primarily from Classical mythology, Western European fairy tales, American horror movies, and resistance poetry from the Spanish Civil War, this paper explores four symbolic subversions of the food chain (when hunters are hunted; bloodthirsty plants; cannibalism; and hunger). With particular attention to gender roles and natural life cycles, these narratives illuminate the ways in which food symbolism …

Poesía Y Transgresión: Figuraciones Góticas En Poeta En Nueva York De Federico García Lorca, Inés Ordiz

Alambique. Revista académica de ciencia ficción y fantasía / Jornal acadêmico de ficção científica e fantasía

Poeta en Nueva York refleja las impresiones que causaron en Lorca su viaje a la gran ciudad manzana y a Cuba, unos meses después. Su crisis personal se proyecta en el contexto extranjero y alienante que le rodea, para dar como resultado un texto repleto de poderosas metáforas y significados cruzados, retratos angustiosos de la vida en la gran urbe e imágenes de destrucción, muerte y violencia. Mi propuesta busca leer estas evocaciones desde la perspectiva de la literatura gótica, con el fin de iluminar los sombríos mecanismos de transgresión que propone el texto. Así, este análisis explora conceptos como …

Addressing Diversity And Difference In Contemporary Spanish Lesbian Literature: Reading Illy Nes’S El Lago Rosa And Cristina Cuesta’S “Zoe Y Haydee”, Megan Sheldon

Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature

Illy Nes’s novel El lago rosa (The Pink Lake, 2004) and Cristina Cuesta’s short story “Zoe y Haydee” (Zoe and Haydee, 2007) depict travel and cross-cultural queer relationships that call attention to racial and class differences as well as ethnic and cultural divides. Both narratives raise questions concerning the representation of queer women of color in Spanish fiction of the new millennium. This article focuses on the diverse cultural, political and personal struggles that surround the formation and negotiation of sexual identity, emphasizing the fact that LGBTQ identity is not necessarily cross-culturally or universally constructed around identical interests, desires, or …

Emilio Peral Vega. Pierrot/Lorca: White Carnival Of Black Desire. London: Tamesis, 2015., Enrique Álvarez

Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature

Review of Emilio Peral Vega. Pierrot/Lorca. White Carnival of Black Desire. London: Tamesis, 2015.

Frederick Luis Aldama. Latino Comic Book Storytelling: An Odyssey By Interview. San Diego: ¡Hyperbole Books!, 2017., Jessica Rutherford

Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature

Review of Frederick Aldama. Latino Comic Book Storytelling: An Odyssey by Interview. San Diego: ¡Hyperbole Books!, 2017.

The Sin Of Pride In Dressing Bodies In Spanish And Anglo-American Ballads, Ana Belén Martínez García

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "The Sin of Pride in Dressing Bodies in Spanish and Anglo-American Ballads" Ana Belén Martínez García argues that trying to decipher the reasons for characters to dress in a certain way may help discover the underlying sociocultural mechanisms that prevail. The author aims to reveal the gender divide associated to clothing through a comparative approach towards popular literature in Spanish and English. She uses Judith Butler's theory of performative acts in order to conduct the text analysis. Clothes-related acts feature prominently in the case of popular balladry. Spanish "romances" and Anglo-American ballads are poems that were and …

The Construction Of A Transatlantic Subject: Family And Nation In "Sola" By María José De Chopitea, Valeriya F. Fritz

The Coastal Review: An Online Peer-reviewed Journal

This article explores the articulation of exile identity in the novel Sola by María José de Chopitea published in Mexico in 1954. Until now, critics have approached this text as lacking ideological argument. I propose an alternative reading of the novel as an ideologically charged narrative that articulates the nation beyond state borders and in terms of a transatlantic bond between Mexico and the Spanish Republic. Sola creates space in the nation for Catalan female writers who were previously excluded due to both their gender and their status as political exiles and cultural minorities.

Cruzando Fronteras De Género(S): La Dislocación Del "Bildungsroman" Y La Construcción Política Del Sujeto, Silvia Roig

The Coastal Review: An Online Peer-reviewed Journal

This study shows that Aurora Bertrana’s novels subvert the traditional Bildungsroman and uses the techniques of the Novel of Female Development with (auto) biographical characteristics. The core of my analysis is in the friction, the disruption and the confrontation between the subject and the social system represented by the family, the school and the community. Bertrana’s novels underline that men, similarly to women, are under a strong pressure to adopt a specific role according to heterosexual norms. Bertrana’s work demonstrate that women writers, like men, can introduce social, cultural and political innovations and experiment with a new literature genre.

Female Artists And The Spanish Pavilion In The International Exhibition In 1937, Carmen Gaitán Salinas

Dissidences

This article aims to elucidate why the majority of Spanish female artists did not participate in the Spanish Pavilion of the International Exhibition in 1937. Only two of them took part in this event. However, there were a lot of female artists in that period. In fact, some artists had a promising career, but it seems that they did not dare to be involved in this exhibition in the Spanish Pavilion. In some cases, the no participation of some female artists could have been a simple coincidence, although it should be pointed out that there could be other reasons related …

Evocación Y Reivindicación De Las Vanguardias Artísticas En La Arquitectura Moderna Con Ambición Social En Las Novelas Catálogo De Formas, De Nicolás Cabral, Y La Trabajadora, De Elvira Navarro, María-José Furió Sancho

Dissidences

Dos novelas publicadas en 2014 parecen dialogar en torno al tema de la función social de la arquitectura y del papel del artista –el creador, el escritor— en el seno de la sociedad en la que vive. Son Catálogo de formas, del argentino afincado en México, Nicolás Cabral (1975), y La trabajadora, de la sevillana instalada en Madrid Elvira Navarro (1978). La primera, una biografía ficcionalizada del arquitecto y pintor mexicano Juan O’Gorman, plantea una reivindicación de las vanguardias artísticas mientras La trabajadora describe los efectos psicológicos de la precarización laboral en una joven escritora española …

Sobre Género Y Trayectorias De Transformación Social En Amor, Curiosidad, Prozac Y Dudas (1997) Y La Eva Futura (2000) De Lucía Etxebarria, Javier Sánchez Dr.

Dissidences

Este estudio muestra que los textos literarios de Lucía Etxebarria como Amor, curiosidad, prozac y dudas (1997) y su ensayo teórico La Eva futura (2000) pertenecen dentro de una tradición feminista en España que ya fue decantada por autoras, filósofas y feministas anteriores como Carmen de Burgos, La mujer moderna y sus derechos, y Amelia Valcárcel, La política de las mujeres. Feminismos. Aunque silenciada en ciertos momentos de nuestra historia, especialmente después de la guerra civil española (1936-39), pero no por ello ausente, la trayectoria feminista literaria y ensayística de estas pensadoras siempre ha buscado la igualdad de …

Vindicating The Femme Fatale In Manuel Antín’S 'Circe', Daria Cohen

Dissidences

Vindicating the Femme Fatale in Manuel Antín’s Circe

The present article analyzes a classic Argentine film noir, Circe, to explore its representation of a powerful, autonomous female protagonist ahead of the historical moment of 1964. The director Manuel Antín creates a film adaptation that departs from the source text by Julio Cortázar by focalizing the motivations and actions of a female character that flouts societal expectations and mores. The article is theoretically grounded in feminist, subjectivity and film adaptation theory. The article contributes to the fields of Latin American Studies, Global Film and Media Studies, Argentine Cultural and Literary Studies, …

La Psicología Como Conexión Entre Las Obras De Gilman, Lispector, Y Valenzuela, Sarah Singsank

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

Using the psychoanalytic approach, I examine The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, A imitação da rosa by Clarice Lispector, and Cambio de armas by Luisa Valenzuela, particularly noting a common use of defense mechanisms between the stories. Additionally, I propose an expanded use of the psychoanalytic approach that includes the theories of other psychologists (not just Freud) and use it to inform alternative interpretations of the texts.