Reconstructing the Past in the Post-Franco Novel

Preparations for Research

A. Close Reading/Textual Analysis of Fictions
What, in the text, interests or puzzles you?

The title?
The plot?
The setting?
The character(s) (dialogues, actions, etc.)
Point of view (the narrator)?
Symbolism, the recurrence of imagery or events
Style?

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.)

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PART 2: Standing Back: Thinking Critically about Literature; PART 3 Up Close: Thinking Critically about Literary Forms; 10 Writing about Fiction: The World of the Story; Plot and Character; Foreshadowing; Setting and Atmosphere; Symbolism; Point of View; Theme: Vision or Argument? ....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:

"The course will focus on one of the most persistent themes to appear in the novels of post-Franco Spain, which is the representation of the recent past."

Authors and texts include: "Carmen Martín Gaite, El cuarto de atrás (Destino); Javier Cercas, Soldados de Salamina (Tusquets); Carme Riera, La mitad del alma (Alfaguara); Vicente Molina-Foix, El abrecartas (Anagrama)"

Historical context, the Law of Historical Memory, and collective memory theory will also be discussed.

1. Essays and bibliographies in Dictionary of Literary Biography

Carmen Martín Gaite

Carme Riera

2. Textbooks on Course Reserves.

3. Literary Surveys: (most in References collections)
Del Franquismo a la Posmodernidad: la Novela Española (1975-1999): Análisis y Diccionario de Autores. (Stacks: PQ6144 .L36 2000)

Spanish Women Writers: a Bio-bibliographical Source book. (Ref. PQ6055 .S63 1993)

Enciclopedia de la Novela Española. (Ref. PQ6138 .M67 1999)

The Contemporary Spanish Novel: an Annotated, Critical Bibliography, 1936-1994. (Stacks: PQ6144.Z99 A44 1996)

La Novela Social Española: Conformación Ideológica, Teoría y Crítica. (Stacks: PQ6144 .A4 1996)

A New History of Spanish Literature. (stacks: PQ6033 .C45 1991)

4. Oxford Reference Online

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

Theories of Memory: a Reader BF371 .T446 2007a

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Introduction / Michael Rossington, Anne Whitehead -- Classical and early and modern ideas of memory / ed. by Jennifer Richards -- Enlightenment and romantic memory / ed. by Michael Rossington -- Memory and late modernity / ed. by Michael Rossington, Anna Whitehead -- Collective memory / ed. by Michael Rossington -- Jewish memory discourse / ed. by Anne Whitehead -- Trauma / ed. by Anne Whitehead -- Gender / ed. Kate Chedgzoy -- Race/nation / ed. by Pablo Mukherjee -- Diaspora / ed. by Linda Anderson.

The Cambridge Companion to the Spanish Novel:
from 1600 to the Present .. Ordered

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On the novel: mirror and text / Adelaida López de Martínez and Harriet Turner -- The legacy of Don Quijote and the picaresque novel / Anthony J. Close -- The Enlightenment and fictional form / Rebecca Haidt -- The regional novel: evolution and consolation / Alison Sinclair -- The folletín : Spain looks to Europe / Elisa Martí-López -- The realist novel / Harriet Turner -- History and fiction / Geoffrey Ribbans -- Gender and beyond: nineteenth-century Spanish women writers / Lou Charnon-Deutsch -- Decadence and innovation in fin de siglo Spain / Noël Valis -- From the Generation of 1898 to the vanguard / Roberta Johnson -- The testimonial novel and the novel of memory / Gonzalo Sobejano -- Questioning the text / Bradley Epps -- Women and fiction in post-Franco Spain / Akiko Tsuchiya -- Cultural alliances: film and literature in the socialist period, 1982-1995 / Isolina Ballesteros -- The novel beyond modernity / Teresa M. Vilarós -- Writing about writing / Randolph D. Pope.

Mirrors and Echoes: Women's Writing in Twentieth-Century Spain. PQ6055 .M57 2007

Narrating the Past: Fiction and Historiography in Postwar Spain. Reserves: PQ6144 .H47 1995

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	Soldevila Durante, Ignacio.
Title	*Historia de la Novela Española, 1936-2000*.
Publisher	Madrid: Ediciones Cátedra, c2001
Subject	Spanish fiction -- 20th century -- History and criticism.

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

Martín Gaite Carmen (last name first in subject search)

Martín Gaite, Carmen -- Characters -- Women.
Martín Gaite, Carmen -- Criticism And Interpretation.

Martín Gaite, Carmen. Cuarto De Atrás.

Martín Gaite, Carmen -- Notebooks, Sketchbooks, Etc.

Martín Gaite, Carmen -- Political And Social Views.

Martín Gaite, Carmen. Ritmo Lento -- Criticism And Interpretation.

More recent authors are likely to be found in literary anthologies, and/or journal articles.

Literary anthologies and translations 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.

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

(memory or past) and literature and (spain or spanish) and 20th

Note:

1. include "and" in between keywords;
2. "or" and ( ) to nest related/varied expressions;

Search accross these three databases:

MLA (Literature)

Sociological Abstracts

Worldwide Political Science Abstracts

Enter your search terms:

Latin American Studies

PRISMA.

Collection of Journals

JSTOR (with omission of the current years)
Project Muse (with current years only)

Additional Databases

Arts & Humanities Citation 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 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:

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. imagery or themes;
2. characters/characterization;
3. the plot, events, actions;
4. the settings
5. literary devices, e.g. points of view, the interplay of memory and history;
6. 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?

Review of Recent Books

Reviews of recent books on a subject are likely to summarize the current state of research in an area;

A sample search in Project Muse and limited to Book Reviews :

"magic realism" and ("latin america*" or colombia*)

a record

Note:

1. include "and" in between keywords;

2. "or" and ( ) to nest related/varied expressions;

3. America* searches for all forms of the word, America, American, etc.

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, original documents, 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 (22 languages from over 150 countries and 350 geographic regions.)

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)

Buruma, Ian. "Memory Won't be Denied, but Don't Legislate History." The Daily Star (Lebanon) December 13 2007. LexisNexis Academic. Web. 4 Sept. 2009.

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

Citation Management Tool: RefWorks

1. Store your records of books, articles, etc.
2. Generate a bibliography in the style of your choice.
3. Format in-text notes/footnotes while you write.

Learn how to use RefWorks

last updated: 24/07/09