Teaching Representations of the Spanish Civil War

Description

The Spanish Civil War (1936-39), a national conflict with international significance, inspired strong responses from artists and writers on both sides of the Atlantic. The bombing of the Basque town Guernica, the assassination of the poet Federico Garcia Lorca, and the defense of Madrid are just some of the events represented in painting, film, fiction, memoir, and history produced during the war years and since. Courses dealing with the Spanish Civil War are given regularly in literature, foreign language, and history departments, in English and in Spanish. This volume in the MLA series Options for Teaching helps instructors plan courses that exploit the interdisciplinary, multigeneric opportunities present in the period's aesthetic output. In thirty-five essays, contributors negotiate the complex relation between art and history in depictions of the war and its aftermath, exploring how memory is shaped. Key representations of the war, like Picasso's Guernica, Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls, Orwell's Homage to Catalonia, Rodoreda's La placa del Diamant, Sender's Requiem por un campesino espanol, and Capa's Falling Militiaman, find a place in this wide-ranging volume. In addition, coverage extends to less frequently taught works by Catalan, German, Irish, and Latin American novelists, poets, and visual artists. The volume concludes with a section of resources for further study and classroom use, including films, music, photography, Web sites, and course syllabi and commentaries. Contents Acknowledgments Spain and the Spanish Civil War: Timeline of Events Introduction Note Part I. Representations of Historical Contexts Navigating the Historical Labyrinth of the Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War as a National Conflict Civil War, Civil Society, and Civic Culture A War of Cities Representations of the Civil War in Historiography Note The Spanish Civil War as a Religious Conflict At Peace with the Past: Explaining the Spanish Civil War in the Basque Country, Catalonia, and Galicia Notes Part II. Rhetoric, Ideology, and the War Advocacy and Undecidability: The Pedagogy of the Spanish Civil War Sample Course Modules Doctrine and Politics in Nationalist Spain Discourse and Symbolism The State and Politics Note Between Documentary and Propaganda: Teaching The Spanish Earth Notes The Question of Race in the Spanish Civil War Note War, Postwar, and the Fascist Fabrication of Identity Crisis and Identity Subject and Race Notes Class and Gender Representation in Post-Civil War Spanish Narrative Part III: Writing the War Seeing the Spanish Civil War through Foreign Eyes Intellectuals, Writers, and the Allegory of Spain’s War Interpreting the “Good Fight“ Notes The Abraham Lincoln Brigade Volunteers: Historical Contexts and Writings Teaching Allegory and Concealment: Covert Dissent from within the Franco Camp Historical, Political, and Cultural Context Teaching Literary Context: Censorship and Covert Protest TeachingTexts in Context: Patterns, Structures, and Examples of Covert Dissent Notes War and the Work of Poetry: Issues in Teaching Spanish Poetry of the Civil War “Committed”(?) Writing in the Spanish Civil War “Your Country Does Not Matter”: British and Irish Writers on the Spanish Civil War Notes The French Literary Response to the War: Malraux and Others Note German Literary Responses to the War Nazi Involvement and Literature Writing for the Republic Note Teaching the Literature of the Spanish Civil War in Spanish-to-English Translation Note Hemingway’s War Notes Part IV: The Arts and the War The Spanish Civil War in Films from the Franco Period Note Representations of the Civil War in Post-Franco Cinema Iconography of the Nationalist Cause Notes The Documentary Dilemma and the Spanish Civil War Notes Photography and the Spanish Civil War Notes Learning from Guernica Notes Part V: Memory, Displacement, and the War The Exile’s Dilemma: Writing the Civil War from Elsewhere Life in Exile Writing from Exile Teaching Exile Literature Note Refugee Camp Warriors: Voices of Resistance from the Battleground of Exile Notes Personal Narrative: A Bridge in Time Teaching the Memory Texts of Spanish Women during the Civil War Notes The Witness in the Classroom: Survivor Oral Histories of the Spanish Civil War Student Preparation for the Study of Oral Sources Approaches for Working with Video Interviews and Print Testimonies Oral History Live Note Fighting the Long Battle of Memory: Autobiographical Writing about the Spanish Civil War Appendix Note Window of Opportunity: The Television Documentary as “After-Image” of the War Notes Civil War Ghosts Entombed: Lessons of the Valley of the Fallen Notes Teaching History through Memory Work: Issues of Memorialization in Representations of the Spanish Civil War Notes Part VI. Resources Introduction Cinematography Music Photography Posters Poetry Prose Secondary Sources Part VII. Course Syllabi Memory, History, Representation: The Spanish Civil War and Its Aftermath Course Description Evaluation Reading and Viewing Materials Week Topic, Student Presentations, Readings To the Barricades: Civil War, Cultural Production, and Gender in Spain Course Description Evaluation Reading and Viewing Materials Class Topic, Assignments Representations of, and Reactions to, the Spanish Civil War Course Description Evaluation Reading and Viewing Materials Class Topic, Readings, Films The Spanish Civil War: A Cultural History Course Description Evaluation Reading and Viewing Materials Class Topic, Readings, Films The Spanish Civil War: Literature, History, and Culture Course Description Evaluation Reading and Viewing Materials Class Topic, Readings, Films A Clear-Cut Case: The Imagining of the Spanish Civil War Course Description Evaluation Reading Materials Class Topic, Readings The Spanish Civil War: Words and Images Course Description Evaluation Reading and Viewing Materials Class Topic, Readings, Films Glossary Notes on Contributors Works Cited Index