Undergraduate Course: The Spanish Newspaper Column by Writers (ELCH10040)
Course Outline
| School | School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 4 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This module provides an introduction to, close study and practice of newspaper columns by contemporary Spanish writers published in the Spanish press since the 1980s. |
| Course description |
In Spain, writers have had a presence in the periodical press for centuries, a presence that became particularly pronounced from the 19th century onwards, with the period from 1898 to 1936 being an especially fertile one. Since 1975 this presence has become even more marked by way of the genre of the newspaper column cultivated by writers, which has flourished since the re-instatement of democracy and with the boom the periodical press experienced during the period, contributing to the configuration of a, in many ways, new genre in Spanish letters. The course will study and practice this mode of writing, its formal aspects and, to a lesser extent, also emerging themes and representations of contemporary Spain, by way of various collections of such columns by writers published in book form.
It consists of: formal and thematic analyses of newspaper columns; an exploration of generic questions; a look at ensuing representations of contemporary Spain; the practice of this particular aspect of feature writing in Spanish.
After an introduction to the history and development of this genre in Week 1, the work in seminars revolves around the feature writing of a specific author. Students will familiarize themselves with one or two collections of texts by the writer in advance of each seminar. The work in each seminar will be divided into two halves: first, a brief introduction to the literature of each writer and a collective discussion of the main elements that characterize the newspaper columns of the writer in question; second, smaller-group work, with each group focusing on a specific newspaper column and presenting a 5-10 minute analysis of the particular column to the whole class.
Each student will undertake at least two such (formative) presentations per semester. In addition, students will be asked to write two (summative) newspaper columns of 500 words each, to be submitted in Weeks 6 and 9, to be assessed and returned with feedback in Weeks 7 and 10, respectively. Finally, each student will write a commentary of a particular column by an unspecified writer at the end of the semester.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | Entry into Spanish Honours required. |
| Additional Costs | Purchase of primary texts to be studied. |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2021/22, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: 18 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
196 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
The final mark will be made up of 70% coursework, consisting of two 500-word newspaper columns in Spanish to be submitted in teaching Weeks 6 and 9 of the semester and returned with feedback in Weeks 7 and 10, respectively; and 30% time-limited assessment, which will be a commentary of a newspaper column by an unidentified author. Moreover, all students will undertake one or more brief presentations, summarizing group work on a particular column, in the course of the semester (formative assessment), which will be discussed in class. |
| Feedback |
Students will be given feedback in writing on their coursework and their time-limited assessment, and will also be invited to individual, face-to-face oral feedback sessions on all these elements. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Understand the Spanish newspaper by writers in the contemporary period.
- Understand the history and development of this genre of writing.
- Understand the importance of structure, form, and language of columns, and of other specific features, such as register, voice and tone and the use of other rhetorical and narrative devices, in giving shape to columns.
- Analyse in detail this type of feature writing.
- Emulate such writing in Spanish, having developed appropriate written skills.
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Reading List
MARI¿AS, Javier, Leccio¿n pasada de moda. Letras de lengua
MONTERO, Rosa, La vida desnuda
OLMOS, Alberto, Cuando el Vips era la mejor librería de la ciudad
PE¿REZ-REVERTE, Arturo, Patente de corso
JORDA¿, Eduardo, Glorieta de los lotos
CERCAS, Javier, Relatos reales
MILLA¿S, Juan Jose¿, Articuentos
MUN¿OZ MOLINA, Antonio, La vida por delante
LINDO, Elvira, Tinto de verano I
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | DELC Newspaper Column,Spain,Newspaper,Writers,Feature Writing |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Alexis Grohmann
Tel: (0131 6)50 3678
Email: a.grohmann@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Kat Zabecka
Tel: (0131 6)50 4026
Email: K.Zabecka@ed.ac.uk |
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