SPAN 536 War on Modernity, Modernities at War: Culture and The Spanish Civil War
War on Modernity, Modernities at War: Culture and The Spanish Civil War explores cultural representations of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and its aftermath from the viewpoint of conflicting ideas of modernity that coexisted in 20th century Europe and took a very specific form in Spain: a Republican cause that defended the values of social diversity and democratic pluralism; a Nationalist cause that based modernity on a centralized apparatus controlling political dissent and social mobility. The course focuses on the analysis of the contradictions inherent in a plural society that was forced to imagine (and demise) a monolithic "other" and take arms against them. Special attention will be paid towards the distinction between the cultural productions that emerged during the war, under Franco, and from exile, as well as issues related to memory, commemoration, and reconciliation throughout the analysis of literary and cinematic texts dating from the 1930s to the present day. Texts by Helen Graham, Santos Julia, Paul Preston, Camilo Jose Cela, Miguel Delibes, Manuel Rivas, Ignacio Martinez de Pison. Movies by Ivens, Saura, Almodovar De la Iglesia, and Ziff.