Interim 2026

Spanish 274
Topic for January 2026: Spain’s Monsters/Los monstruos de España
Prerequisite: Spanish 250 or Spanish 251
Prof. Marit Hanson

Monsters and mythological creatures form a part of every nation’s history and cultural archive. At times benign, more often malevolent, monsters reflect prevalent social anxieties and often signal boundaries between Self and Other. In this course, we will examine appearances of the monstrous at different points in Spain’s history and consider how these monsters continue to shape Spanish national identity and cultural imagination today. We will focus primarily on representations of monsters from three time periods: early colonial narratives of Spanish America, the end of the Spanish Civil War/beginning of Francisco Franco’s dictatorship, and the present day. We will analyze a variety of texts: literature, essays, propaganda, film, and a graphic novel. These texts will be situated within the historical context in which they were created and supplemented with short theoretical readings to enhance our understanding and analyses. As a part of the course, students will complete a final digital storymapping project that demonstrates their comprehension and analysis of course themes.
 
Tentative readings include but are not limited to:
Excerpts from Monster Theory, edited by Jeffrey Jerome Cohen
Excerpts from El primer viaje a las indias, by Cristóbal Colón (first diary of Columbus to the Americas)
El laberinto del fauno (film) directed by Guillermo del Toro 
Advertising materials for Spain’s Festivales de moros y cristianos
“Mil euros por tu vida” by Elia Barceló (short story and graphic novelization)
Novellas from Editorial Cerbero

Counts as a 270-level elective for the Spanish major.