Latin American Poetry and the Spanish Civil War

Preparations for Research

A. Close Reading/Textual Analysis of Poems
What have been your responses to the following elements in the poems?

Your first responses in general
Speaker and Tone
Audience
Structure and Form
Imagery
Center of Interest and Theme
Diction
Sound Effects

B. Your Interpretations of These Evidence:
How do these elements illustrate or raise questions about a problem/ issue?

C. Your Argument about the Text based on your Interpretations

1. Avoid a general argument that most readers could reach from a simple reading of the text.
2. Your statement of opinion should have such a depth that it requires further reasoning throughout the whole paper.
3. Your argument may not be completely original; but it might include some unique set of evidence and illustration as well as individual reasoning.

Sources:

Writing Center at UNC (handouts)

Barnet, Sylvan. A Short Guide to Writing About Literature. 11th ed. New York: Longman, 2009.

A Short Guide to Writing about Literature by Sylvan Barnet. (2009 11th ed.)

book cover

PART 2: Standing Back: Thinking Critically about Literature; PART 3 Up Close: Thinking Critically about Literary Forms; 10 ... Writing about Poetry: The Speaker and the Poet; Figurative Language; Structure; Explication; Rhythm and Versification....; 13 Writing about an Author in Depth. PART 4 Inside: Style, Format, and Special Assignments; 15 Writing a Research Paper.

Authors Featured in the Course:

"Examines the impact of the Spanish Civil War on the poetry of César Vallejo, Pablo Neruda and Nicolás Guillén by first tracing their developemt as young, rebellious writers in Latin America."

Oxford Spanish-English Dictionary

1. Dictionary of Literary Biography

2. Contemporary Literary Criticism--Select
3. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms.

4. Textbooks on Course Reserves.

5. Literary Surveys: (most in References collections)
Critical Survey of Poetry. PN1021 .C7 2003; 8 vols.

The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics. PN1021 .N39 1993

Twentieth Century Latin American Poetry: a Bilingual Anthology. PQ7087.E5 T94 1996

Poesía Hispanoamericana Posmodernista: Historia, Teoría, Practices. PQ7082.P7 L43 2001

Poesía y Poéticas del Siglo XX en la América Hispana y el Brasil: Historia, Movimientos, Poetas. PQ7082.P7 S532 1997

Woman Who has Sprouted Wings: Poems by Contemporary Latin American Women Poets. PQ7087.E5 W65 1994

Encyclopedia of Latin American and Caribbean Literature, 1900-2003. PQ7081.A1 E558 2004

The Cambridge History of Latin American Literature. PQ7081.A1 C35 1996

6. Social, Cultural and Historical Backgrounds:
Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture.

Oxford Reference Online

social, political, religous history; history of ideas; all periods.

Subject Encyclopedias/dictionaries & Textbooks provide:

1. thorough introductions and summaries of major literary movements and critical theories in their historical and social contexts

2. and with cross-references to related topics and bibliographies; bio-bibliographies of literary authors

3. and their works and writings, theories, etc. in critical context.

Readings on Course Reserves.

WorldCat (catalogs of libraries worldwide)

Procedure Note:

1. Verify if Tufts Library has the book you need.

2. Use ILliad (interlibrary loan service) to request non-Tufts books.

Prev Next

Path of Discovery in the Catalogs

1. Find a title/author (assigned readings/Course Reserves);

2. Note the descriptive language of the Catalog record.

3. Use that language in further searches

e.g. Click on subject/author in the record to see further results and related topics.

Author	Gonzalez, Mike.
Title	*The gathering of voices: the twentieth-century poetry of Latin America*
Publisher	London; New York: Verso, 1992.
Subject	Latin American poetry -- 20th century -- History and criticism.
Subject	Literature and society -- Latin America.

Many more books on well-studied authors, so it helps to browse through some typical subject subdivisions in book Catalogs:

Neruda, Pablo (last name first in subject search)

Neruda, Pablo, 1904-1973 -- Bibliography
Neruda, Pablo, 1904-1973 -- Correspondence.

Neruda, Pablo, 1904-1973 -- Criticism and interpretation

Neruda, Pablo, 1904-1973 -- Influence.

Neruda, Pablo, 1904-1973 -- Political And Social Views.

Neruda, Pablo, 1904-1973 -- Technique.

Compare with a Keyword Search on an author:

"Cesar Vallejo"

An Advanced keyword search and limit findings to the Spanish Language:

"latin america*" and (poem* or poet* or poetry)

Search for anthologies of literary works

Anthologies often include introductory texts that provide overviews and surveys of the literary periods. The explanatory footnotes enhance an understanding of the works in terms of contemprorary culture in which the authors lived and wrote. Hence, the historical significance of the works.

antholog* and (poems or poetry) and "latin america*"

Note:

1. include "and" in between keywords;
2. "or" and ( ) to nest related/varied expressions;
3. america* for all forms of the word: america, american, americans.
4. “ ” quotations marks around phrases.

Perform a Keyword Search for a broader question related to your author/literary works:

"spanish civil war" and (poetry or poem* or poet*)

Sample results in Tufts Library Catalog:

Creating Spaniards: Culture and National Identity in Republican Spain. c2002

Cries from a Wounded Madrid: Poetry of the Spanish Civil War. 1984

Background reading on Spanish Civil War:

The Spanish Civil War: a Very Short Introduction.
DP269 .G6462 2005

The Spanish Civil War: Origins, Course, and Outcomes.
DP269 .R66 2005

The Spanish Civil War: a Cultural and Historical Reader.
DP269 .S627 1993

Search MLA (International Bibliography of Language & Literature)

Collection of Journals

1. JSTOR

(with OMISSION of the latest 3-5 years)

2. Project Muse (with current years only)

Latin American Studies

PRISMA.

Additional Databases

Arts & Humanities Citation Index

Film & Television Literature Index
Women's Studies International

Click on the number to pause the slide.

Some Database Characteristics

Each Database is selective

Subject Matter—disciplinary perspective, period, geographical region, and more;
Scope —types, number, and years of publications covered
Depth (of indexing) —citation, ciabstracts, full texts, which determines their search capabilities.

Strategy in Selecting a Database

First, run a relatively broad search in them to assess their relevance on a topic;
Next, try out a variety of keyword, subject, and author searches in a chosen database.
Last, use newly learned ideas and words in other databases.

About JSTOR and Project Muse

1. The collections include journals from all displines— literary studies, Latin American Studies, and others;

2. JStor are likely to include seminal works on a subject, which are highly original and influential, and central to the development or understanding of a subject.

3. Must check for up-to-date information from other sources when using JSTOR.

Click to browse some journals here:

journal cover

Range of Keywords—Scope of a Research Question

1. Start with a general search with simply the author's name, or title of the novel.

2. Examine the general search results to discover possible focuses on some typical elements; evidences you have collected in your reading of the text and you will use to support your thesis of the paper.

1. themes, e.g. Spanish Civil War, Politics;
2. imagery, e.g. imagery (in general), or, specifically, birds, stones,
3. Other literary techniques, e.g. metaphor, and other types of figurative language;
4. and more.

Evaluation of Search Results:

In what types of journals and publications (besides literary studies) did you find relevant work? What does this suggest about research on your topic?

What sorts of audiences seem to be addressed in works on your topic? How can you tell?

What aspects of the search results surprised you? Why? Did “peripheral materials” lead you anywhere? How?

Based on your search, how would you characterize the main approaches to your topic? What do you think are some of the central debates in the study of your topic? What is your evidence for thinking so?

Read a Couple of Articles Carefully and Identify:

the "problem" addressed (the thesis of the article);

the central debates on this problem;

the major arguments by the author;

the methods applied in making these arguments;

the evidence (e.g., language, imagery, narrative forms, author's interviews, diaries, etc., or secondary sources);

if the conclusions are based on speculations, are they convincing?

Throughout your reading:

Compare and contrast methods by authors: key points of difference or convergence

Note controversies and weaknesses; explain and clarify gaps

How about the presentation, logic and clarity of the article?

State your own positions; provide your own interpretations and critiques

Finding Full Texts

1. Click on the button to these three options:

a. link to the full text of the article when available digitally;

b. link to a Library Catalog search for the journal in print that contains your article.

c. link to ILliad for requesting the article when the above two options are negative.

2. Search for a journal directly here:

a.Tufts Library Catalog (including e-journals)
b. Electronic journals list
c. Use ILliad to request your article, if Tufts does not have your journal.

Current (United States and International)

LexisNexis Academic (Foreign Language Sources)
Factiva

Ethnic, Alternative and Independent Press

Historical

Time Magazine (1923-Present)
New York Times Online Archive
(1851 - 3 years before current date)

Times Digital Archive (1785 - 1985)

Factiva includes content in over 22 languages from over 150 countries and 350 geographic regions.

MLA style rules and examples
Chicago/Turabian style rules and examples

Citation Management Tool: RefWorks

1. Store your records of books, articles, etc.
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3. Format in-text notes/footnotes while you write.

Learn how to use RefWorks

last updated: 03/30/10