Reading the World's Classics Critically: A Keyword-Based Approach to Literary Analysis in Foreign Language Studies

Abstract

While there are a number of important critical pedagogies being proposed in the field of foreign language study, more attention should be given to providing concrete examples of how to apply these ideas in the classroom. This article offers a new approach to the textual analysis of literary classics through the keyword-based methodology originally developed by cultural historian Raymond Williams. The article describes Williams's theory and details its specific application and efficacy in undergraduate Golden Age Spanish literature classes. The study shows that the keyword method supported students' active engagement with the classics through a multilayered analysis of the linguistic, literary, and sociocultural features of the works.

Notes

¹ In addition, students consulted material found in critical editions and translations of the literary works as well as historiographic sources.

² Whether or not there were distinct semantic values for the terms honor and honra in the Golden Age has been the focus of much scholarly debate since Américo Castro's influential writings on the subject (1961; Casa, García Lorenzo, & García-Luengos, 2002). Nonetheless, as Thacker notes, “the two words are often employed interchangeably or chosen for metrical reasons” (2007, p. 103). Covarrubias confirms their use generally as synonyms: “Honor. Vale lo mesmo que honra” [Honor, it is equivalent to honra] (1611/2006, p. 1067).

³ When defining honra, Covarrubias alludes only to “la virtud” [virtue], “la potestad” [title], and “algunas veces el dinero” [and sometimes, money] (1611/2006, p. 1068) as the reasons for which honor was conferred. He is also careful to disassociate honor from the active pursuit of wealth: “el hombre honrado no ha de ser interesal” [a man of honor should not be greedy] (p. 1068). In Diccionario de autoridades, the entries for honor and honra include the additional attributes of “la honestidad y recato en las mugéres” [the honesty and modesty in women], and “la integridad virginal” [virginity] (Real Academia Española, 1726–1739/2002, Vol. 2, p. 173).

⁴ The idea is summarized succinctly in the lines from Act I of Ruiz de Alarcón's La verdad sospechosa [The Suspicious Truth], “¡Jesús, qué cosa tan fea/ en hombre de obligación” [Oh, how unattractive/ in a man of high status] (1621/1943, p. 13), representing the disgust that the father feels for the unethical behavior of his privileged son.

⁵ In the Diccionario de autoridades, the many connotations for voluntad are given, including “[u]na de las Potencias del Alma, que tiene por objeto el bien conocido, cuyos actos son el querer, y no querer” [one of the faculties of the soul, that seeks the good, and whose actions consist of loving and not loving], “[s]e toma por el libre albedrio, ò la libre determinación” [it is understood as free will or self-determination], and “[s]e toma assimismo por gana, ù deseo de hacer alguna cosa…” [it is also understood as drive or desire to do something…] (Real Academia Española, 1726–1739/2002, Vol. 3, p. 518). It is interesting to note that Covarrubias' very brief definition of the word focuses exclusively on the notion of free will: “Voluntad. Del nombre latino voluntas, tis. Voluntario, lo que se hace de grado…” [Will. From the Latin noun voluntas, tis. Voluntary, an act performed willingly…] (1611/2006, p. 1537).