European Literature: Spain

This podcast follows the required reading list from the AP Spanish Literature course of the College Board. It's recorded in Spanish and the goal is to help students and teachers analyze these complex texts.

Thinking about applying for Modern Languages at university? Listen in on our conversations with Spanish tutors at Oxford to find out what's so fascinating about the literature they teach, why they love teaching it, and why they think you might love it too.

Spanish literature is extraordinarily rich and varied, and yet it is relatively unknown. Everyone has heard of Cervantes (or at least of his novel Don Quixote), but most would be unable to come up with another name. What we want to do in these pages is show what it is that makes Spanish literature exciting and original, and what contributions Spanish writers have made to world literature.

The history of Spain has been marked by all types of events, wars, conquests, marriages, deaths... and literature has played an important part in it. From the epic tale of the "Cantar del Mio Cid" to the surrealism present in some of Cela's works; from the amazing adventures of Don Quixote to the many books recounting the horrors of the Spanish Civil War, Spanish literature has had it's own way of influencing history. Literature is a very important subject in all Spanish schools, and this site is a guide to the evolution of Spanish literature across the centuries.

Characterized by expressions of individuality, popularismo, criticism, stoicism, humor, piety, and dignity, the literature of Spain spans ten centuries, includes some of history’s most significant writers, and contains landmark works of every major literary genre.

Probing the relationship between political and artistic identity, Spanish-born author Juan Goytisolo investigates rarely explored concepts at the heart of Spanish and Latin American culture. This program presents an overview of Goytisolo’s outlook on past and present social dilemmas and their connection with his self-exile from his home country. The author of The Young Assassins, Marks of Identity, and Juan the Landless sheds light on artistic and political oppression under Franco and his prescience about the way Spanish fascism would eventually crumble. He also discusses his experiences in France and New York, as well as his views on Latin American anti-colonial movements.

Characterized by expressions of individuality, popularismo, criticism, stoicism, humor, piety, and dignity, the literature of Spain spans ten centuries, includes some of history’s most significant writers, and contains landmark works of every major literary genre. This program provides an overview of Iberian history as it relates to Spanish literature. The formation of regional tongues and their importance in the cultural life of Spain are discussed, with an emphasis on the three languages that, apart from Castilian, are most in evidence today: Catalan, Gallego, and Basque, or Euskera. Dramatic readings include excerpts from Rosalía de Castro’s Cantares Gallegos, Miguel de Unamuno’s “Alma Vasca,” Salvador Espriu’s La Piel de Toro, and Eduardo Pondal’s “Yo Nací en la Pequeña Ponteceso.” A Films for the Humanities & Sciences Production.

The literature of Spain. Literature flourished on the Iberian Peninsula long before the evolution of the modern Spanish language.