Dean of the College Presents
Candidate for the Position in Spanish
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Olin 205
Òscar O. Santos-Sopena
Literary Dreamers: A Visual Journey from Bernat Metge to Francisco de QuevedoMy research study analyzes the work of several Catalan and Castilian authors, who use the motif of the dream as a specific humanist perspective, a literary genre, and a philosophical classical discourse. Thus, this presentation explores the intersection of culture, religion, and literary theory in the work of two Iberian Peninsular authors: Lo somni (1399) by the Catalan writer Bernat Metge (1350-1413) and Los sueños (1627) by the Castilian Francisco de Quevedo y Villegas (1580-1645). Both works represent excellent examples of the use of dreams as a cultural and historical narrative of two epochs: Catalan Humanism and Castilian-Spanish Baroque. I suggest that both texts should be explored in relation to the notion of Christian Humanism, where the use of the dream emerges as a literary genre and artistic philosophical device. I argue that this cross-pollination of humanisms from the Mediterranean world served as a bridge between the different civilizations and cultures. Moreover, as my multidisciplinary research indicates, I include exhaustive visual representations of dreams from the Medieval to Contemporary periods. Through this visual journey, I demonstrate that the introduction of dreams in these narratives is instrumental in separating reality and fiction.
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Location: Olin 205