Culture and Context: Extras

Question 1

El cantar del mio Cid

Answer 1

1. Anonymously written in 1140
2. A singing poem popular in medieval Spain
3. Takes place during the Reconquista
4. Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar is seeking to recover his honor after being exiled by King Alfonso VI
5. He takes part in the battle of Valencia, after recovering his honor, his two daughters marry the heirs of the house of Carrión, relatives of the king
6. These men mistreat and almost kill the girls
7. The Cid fights against the men and, after defeating them, the daughters marry the heirs of the House of Navarra and Aragón
8. Because of this, the Cid is the man known as the unifier of Spain during the Reconquista

Question 2

El libro del buen humor

Answer 2

1. Written in the 1320’s by Juan Ruíz
2. Interesting work: narrative, lyric, and didactic
3. Scholars consider it a commentary on love and its behaviors
4. The main character, the Archpriest of Hita, presents the topic in an almost biographical way and talks about his sexual frustrations
5. It debates love and whether man should put aside his thirst for sex and embrace divine love instead

Question 3

Discuss the art of Diego Velázquez.

Answer 3

1. 17 C Spanish painter
2. Born in Seville, he became the court painter for King Phillip IV
3. He lived in Italy, but later returned to Madrid where he died
4. Mainly a portraitist specializing in historical and cultural depictions of royalty, notables, and commoners
5. He most famous painting is Las Meninas, a baroque portrayal of the Infanta Margarita, one of the daughters of the king, surrounded by maids of honor and other members of the court
6. Las Meninas is now located at the Museo del Prado, Madrid
7. Impressionists and realists of the 19th C as well as modern painters such as Picasso and Dalí, used his work as a model for theirs

Question 4

La Celestina

Answer 4

1. La Celestina AKA Tragicomedia de Calisto y Melibea, was written by Fernando de Rojas in 1499
2. Many considered it the first Spanish novel even though it is not strictly a novel as it is written as a dialogue between the characters
3. The piece has 21 acts
4. It deals with the seduction of a young virgin, Melibea, and how an old woman, Celestina, tries to arrange this seduction for Calisto, the man who loves Melibea
5. The work begins in an orchard where Calisto meets Melibea and falls madly in love with her
6. Melibea does not feel the same for Calisto
7. Calisto goes to Celestina for help
8. After being together for some time, Melibea and Calisto fall in love, and Celestina’s help is no longer needed anymore, which causes trouble
9. By the end of the work, almost all the characters have died. Other characters are: Sempronio, Elicia, Pármeno, and Pleberio

Question 5

Comment on the life and work of Frida Kahlo.

Answer 5

1. 20th C Mexican painter, b and d in Mexico City
2. She contracted polio as a child, and suffered from health problems because of this and a bus accident as a teen
3. She stopped her medical training and became a painter
4. She married Mexican painter Diego Rivera
5. She used bright colors and primitive forms deeply rooted in Mexican and Amerindian cultures
6. Also influenced by surrealism
7. Mainly known for her self-portraits and other depictions of the feminine form
8. Julie Taymor directed the movie Frida in which Salma Hayek played the role of the artist

Question 6

Discuss the art of Fernando Botero.

Answer 6

1. Painter from Medellín, Colombia
2. Trained as a matador while in high school and later lived for some time in Spain and France
3. His figurative paintings show exaggerated and disproportionate volumes to depict the human figure adding humorous details to show criticism and irony
4. His figures are easily recognized and his particular, unmistakable style is sometimes referred to as Boterismo
5. Continues to exhibit regularly, and lives and works in New York and Paris

Question 7

List some relevant artists and films of Spanish cinema.

Answer 7

1. Spanish cinema successfully began in the 1930’s with Luis Buñuel, who was the first internationally recognized Spanish director of films such as Belle de Jour, El discreto encanto de la burguesía, and Ese obscuro objeto del deseo
2. Associated with the surrealist movent and worked in Spain, France, Mexico, and the US
3. Carlos Saura, La Madriguera, Cría Cuervos, Sweet Hours, was a world-renowned Spanish director beginning in the 1950’s
4. At present, Pedro Almodóvar’s works, Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios, Todo acerca de mi madre, Volver, are well known in both Europe and the Americas and have made household names of some of the actors, like Antonio Banderas, and actresses, like Penélope Cruz, have worked in his films

Question 8

Explain the significance of the works of Ernesto Sábato.

Answer 8

1. Argentine writer who studied physics in his country and attended the Sorbonne University in Paris and worked at the Curie Institute and later MIT
2. After WW2 he started to write and paint and be politically involved in the events of his country
3. He translated some scientific books and wrote numerous essays and articles on literature, science, metaphysics, and politics
4. Internationally recognized for his novels: El túnel, Sobre héroes y tumbas, and Abbadón el exterminador
5. His second son, Mario, a film director and screenwriter, directed the movie El poder de las tinieblas, which is based on the section Informe sobre ciegos from Sobre héroes y tumbas
6. Ernesto Sábato was almost 100 when he died

Question 9

Define sociolinguistics and list some of its elements.

Answer 9

1. The relationship between language and society, how they interact, and how they modify and impact each other
2. Language changes and is modified by features such as geographical location, socioeconomic class, education level, age group, gender, ethnicity, and contact with or knowledge of other languages
3. These elements affect all languages to various degrees depending on the particular social factors, constantly altering parts of the language such as pronunciation, word choice, and sentence structure
4. With Spanish spoken in so many different countries, geographical location is one of the most significant sociolinguistic factors that can affect it, and it is very important to pay attention to the local nuances