Warriors, Rogues, and Women in Breeches: Adventurous Lives in Early Modern Transatlantic Literature: Literature in Translation

The 16th and 17th centuries were paramount to the literary legacy of Spanish American worlds, forming successive milestones in artistic and literary achievements. Fiction and drama introduced daring new protagonists, such as witty rogues, scheming harlots, delusional knights, and warrior maidens (bending gender and social roles) that would soon enough change the moral imagination and very course of transatlantic cultural history. This lecture course will explore an array of these masterpieces in prose and drama, both from Spain and across the Americas, retracing adventurous journeys in historical and cross-cultural context. The course will include film and stage adaptations and other artistic manifestations as a way to more fully interrogate the relationship between written word and visual image.