A Reader of Early Modern Spain

Cervantes was an astute reader of the literature, culture, and politics of his age. This class is both a study of sixteenth and early seventeenth-century Iberia seen through Cervantes the reader and an introduction to early modern reading practices, methods of manuscript and book production, and histories of textual reception and circulation. Although readings include selections from Cervantes's works, the course examines lyric poetry, popular prose, political treatises, literary criticism, and drama from other early modern authors as well.