Musical ekphrasis was occurring in the twentieth century in different centers around the world, Cuba: Andalusia, Spain; and Harlem, New York, simultaneously. The writers at the heart of this movement used poetry about music as a means to celebrate the cultures of the marginalized people in their lands, los negros, los gitanos, and African-Americans. The purpose of this study is to define musical ekphrasis and identify it in the works of Nicolás Guillén, Federico García Lorca, and Langston Hughes. Also explored are the common characteristics in ekphrastic poetry by the three poets and the common themes found in their ekphrastic poetry, as well as common influences. Each author is considered in the context of his surroundings and his respective culture, and how that influenced his musical tastes as well as his writing style.

In the present study, the three principal theories of Russian theorist Mikhail Bakhtin--the carnavalesque, grotesque, and dialogical--are applied to the musical-theatre genre of the Spanish zarzuela. The focus of the study centers on the works of composer Pablo Sorozábal and the various librettists who collaborated with him, among them the renowned literary author Pío Baroja. Within this study, zarzuela is first analyzed on its own in terms of the academic debate surrounding the genre and its importance in terms of both literary and musical criticism. After establishing the particular capacity of the zarzuela to make important cultural contributions, the central theoretical framework of the thesis is established via Bakhtinian theory, and several links are drawn between this theory and the genre of the zarzuela, which is shown to be a body of work often capable of conveying subversive messages, both cultural and sociopolitical. With this critical lens, then, the specific sociopolitical context of Spain between 1931-1942 is analyzed and described in order to illustrate the various extratextual and intertextual elements at play in Sorozábal's zarzuelas. The three works ultimately studied are Katiuska (1931), Adiós a la bohemia (1933), and Black, el payaso (1942). By way of highlighting the Bakhtinian characteristics …

This group of lessons is intended to help the child who does not speak Spanish to learn the language. The text is based on the interests of a child; in his dramatic attempts; in his love of the beautiful and the natural. It is not entirely complete, but the author hopes that it serves to give an idea how these materials can be used.

This thesis presents a brief background of poetry in Mexico in the nineteenth century, along with a biography of Manuel Gutiérrez Nájera and a study of his three poetic periods: 1876-1886, 1886-1890, 1890-1895.

This thesis will give a brief biography of Miguel Mihura, summarize and discuss his more important plays, comment on the less important ones, and point out recurrent patterns and themes, with the hope that the general public as well as the student of Spanish, may be better informed of the values to be found in the works of this writer.

This study proposes to establish an intrinsic relationship between Valle-Inclán and Muñiz based on the theme of dehumanization in their theater. It examines (1) the stylistic techniques which each playwright uses to depersonalize his characters, (2) the manner in which these characters dehumanize each other, (3) the role of society as the agent of dehumanization, and finally, due to each author's preoccupation with one social convention in particular (4) the devastating effects on men of the vestiges of an outmoded code of honor. The principal works used for the study are Valle-Inclán's Martes de carnaval, Luces de Bohemia, and Divinas palabras, and El tintero, Un solo de saxofón, Las viejas difíciles, and El grillo by Carlos Muñiz. Such an analysis proposes to reveal a profound literary affinity between these two writers, a bond which unites Valle-Inclán and Muñiz in a common protest against the dehumanization of mankind.

This study traces the current status of Spanish ethics as seen through the optics of historical memory. Starting from the Spanish Civil War in 1936, the thesis relates contemporary themes to their proposed origin throughout three additional distinctive eras of the 20th and 21st century in Spain: 1982-1996 (Socialist Spain), 1997-2010 (Post-modern Spain), and 2011-present (current Spain). Spanish narratives ranging from Los Abel by Matute, La magnitud de la tragedia by Monzó, "Fidelidad" of Ha dejado de llover by Barba and Las fosas de Franco by Silva are contextualized through their ethical architecture, in accordance with their socio-political context, and relationship to past historical traumas. This work proposes that the themes of anticlericalism, the pursuit of social equality, anti bureaucracy, and political distrust are trends culminating from Kohlberg's third level of morality. The thesis aims to be an exposition and legitimization of different ethical schemas that might otherwise be polarized as wrong and inferior by others.

The purpose of this study is to determine the importance of characterization in the Quinteros in developing their characters into figures possessing human qualities which give them charm and reality. In nine of the twenty plays studied, the characters are used in emphasizing other elements such as love and atmosphere, or to prove a thesis. However, the importance of characterization is shown by the fact that eleven of the plays are concerned with the character development.

Este estudio propone hacer un ensayo dando énfasis los motivos temporales y estructurales en las obras Los pasos perdios (1946) y Guerra del tiepo (1958) de Alejo Carpenter, gran novelista y cuentista cubano del momento. Carpenter obliga al lector a notar nuevos conceptos sobre el tiempo y a aceptar nuevas definiciones y dimensiones mas amplias, libre de todas las restricciones tradicionales. Mediante la deformación del tiempo en todo aspecto concebible (vuelto al revés, transpuesto del lugar normal, invertido, fragmentado, o torcido en una manera que es ilógica e inexplicable), Carpentier utiliza los medios temporales en su narrativa de varias maneras: el tiempo circular, el tiempo regresivo, el tiempo histórico, el tiempo interiorizado, o el tiempo atemporal, que son los principales aspectos analizados en esta tesis.

Various groups of Mexican culture have assigned to el narco archetypical characteristics of a heroic figure in the literary, visual, and auditory arts. As a result, today’s narcocultura has expanded its tentacles to a vast array of prominent industries, such as publishing companies, the silver screen, and recording studios. El narco is no longer seen by some sectors as the outlaw that stalks our society but, instead, as a hero who fights against a hegemonic faction to reclaim his sovereignty. This thesis unites interdisciplinary observations of the narco phenomena that Mexican culture has assigned to the iconic figure of el narco. The purpose of this work is to recreate the evolutionary development through a theoretical-literary analysis of this prototype in order to better understand Mexican society’s stance on this phenomenon. Octavio Paz’s theory of the Mexican psyche, Joseph Campbell’s theory of the hero’s journey, and an interdisciplinary focus will be employed to analyze this iconic figure. In this thesis, my aim is to investigate how an ultra-conservative Mexican society evolved into a consortium that upholds the narco’s indistinct behaviors and actions. What roles do first world governments and the Mexican state play to fortify, eradicate, or control the narco phenomenon? …

This thesis is a study of social criticism in the works of Leopoldo Alas ("Clarín"), a nineteenth century Spanish novelist, literary critic and short story writer. In Clarín's two major novels, "La Regenta" and "Su único hijo," and in his numerous short stories there is frequent criticism of the abuses of the clergy, the state of Spanish morality, the misunderstanding and misapplication of religion by the laity, the quality of education, literature, theater and medicine, the corruption of law and government and the treatment to which the poor and uneducated were subjected. Because of Clarín's techniques it can be said that he was the leader of the naturalistic movement in Spain. It can also be said that Clarín as a naturalist did not follow the tenets of the French school.

Manuel Machado is known as one of the most innovative Spanish modernist poets of the twentieth century. Despite his recognition as a literary figure in Spain, the mimetic descriptions in Machado's poetics are interpreted as mere innovations in Spanish poetry. Those mimetic descriptions are examples of ekphrasis in Spanish literature. Ekphrasis is both a literary and representational art. The mimetic dimension in Machado's poetry is ignored or misinterpreted by the critics of his poetics. This study written in Spanish investigates the use of ekphrasis in terms of Machado's poetic style. An analysis of Manuel Machado's ekphrastic poems will determine: ekphrastic poetry is a representational art; how visual and acoustic aspects of Machado's poems create enargeia; and the manifestation of ekphrasis in Spanish verse. In using Machado's poems, this project will contribute to future explorations of ekphrasis in Spanish literature.

This thesis (i) presents a critical analysis of the political allegory and dramatic elements employed by Antón Arrufat in Los siete contra Tebas in order to comment upon the conflict in Cuban society during and immediately after the Cuban revolution; and (ii) further analyzes that conflict using an anthropological approach in order to establish partial reintegration as an additional final phase in the rites of passage journey.

This study focuses on the clitic pronoun usage by Spanish-Quechua bilingual speakers in Cuzco, Peru when faced with a question that includes a definite article preceding the direct object. Answers are analyzed to determine whether or not the definite article has an effect on the presence or absence of the clitic pronoun. Direct objects tested were both [+human] and [-human] objects to determine if these variables affect clitic pronoun use as well. Speakers who have identified themselves as bilingual in both Spanish and Quechua were given a survey to complete in order to see what factors may contribute to the use or omission of the clitic pronouns.

This thesis presents a short history and description of the gaucho of Argentina and explores some of the literature that portrays the gaucho way of life.

This study is an assessment of the topics of religion and fantasy in several novels of Ram6n Sender which various critics have characterized as being particularly concerned with one or both of the topics. Both published and unpublished works of criticism and history have been, consulted. The "Introduction" provides biographical and critical information. Chapter II documents in the characterization and the observations and actions of characters significant reflections of the author's attitude toward religion. In Chapter III the primary emphasis is upon the illogical, the absurd, and the grotesque, The "Conclusion" states that in the opinion of critics, in the significance of characterization, and by his own admission, Sender is liberal, anticlerical, humanistic, and occasionally attracted to the fantastic.

This paper is a study of the major influence of the German philosophy, Krausism, in the writings of Benito Perez Galdds. The study is an analysis of the effects of this ideology on Spain and her people, as illustrated in the works of the most representative writer of the nineteenth century in that country. Also included is a discussion of historical incidents of the period which is necessary to place the acceptance of both this philosophy and the works of Perez Galdos in its proper perspective.

This study discusses the life and works of Larra and many of his beliefs and ideas. The chapters have been divided into three, traeting of Larra's social, literary and political satire that deals mainly with the high cociety of Madrid (Spain).

The purpose of this investigation is to show the relationship between the autobiographical information evidenced by the principal female characters in Emilia Pardo Bazan's major novels and her influence on nineteenth-century feminism in Spain. The changing nature of Pardo Bazan's feminism is studied through an analysis of two literary phases in her work. In the first, classified as naturalistic, Pardo Bazan concentrates on the nineteenth century woman and her limited role within society. The second phase reveals a change of perspective as the author creates a character type: this "new woman" is an expression of her feminist beliefs. As Pardo Bazan sought support for feminist goals, diverse intellectual activities characterized her life and became an integral aspect of her art.