The Art of Brevity: Linguistic Conciseness in the Spanish and Latin American Traditions

SPA4129.01
Course System Home Terms Spring 2016 The Art of Brevity: Linguistic Conciseness in the Spanish and Latin American Traditions

Course Description

Summary

Baltasar Gracián, master of the aphorism, summed it up this way: "Something good, if brief, is twice as good." Jorge Luis Borges and Adolfo Bioy Casares sought in the microrrelato (a very short story) "the essence of narrative". In our time, compressed political slogans or tweets compete to attract the fragmented attention of the public. This course will explore the question of narrative brevity in the Spanish tradition. Chronologically, from classic aphorism and proverbs to greguerías and microrrelatos, not forgetting newspaper headlines and slogans, and alongside longer readings, we will discuss the art of linguistic economy in Spanish, its main characteristics and possible limitations. By analyzing these “verbal miniatures,” students will continue polishing their grammatical skills while widening their cultural understanding. Low-intermediate level. Conducted in Spanish. Corequisite: Students are required to be in attendance at Language Series

Prerequisites

Permission of the the instructor (see Sarah Harris for registration).

Please contact the faculty member : iyoshida@bennington.edu

Corequisites

Students are required to be in attendance at Language Series

Instructor

  • Ikuko Yoshida

Day and Time

Academic Term

Spring 2016

Area of Study

Credits

4

Course Level

4000

Maximum Enrollment

18