Making Time for Research

As the new semester begins I find myself reassessing my time management. I know many "teacher-scholars" from large state institutions do the lion's share of research during the summer, due to high teaching and service loads, but do any of you have any tricks for streamlining class prep in order to free up more time for research and writing?

Meerschaum

My corncob pipe has a sticker proclaiming it a Missouri Meerschaum. I don't know if my esteemed pipe-smoking colleagues have ever tried a real meerschaum, but I have not.

Your mention of The Purloined Letter reminded me of a bibliographic curiosity I came across last year. I thought I'd share it with you.

More depth vs. breadth

We do have a 300 level survey of Spanish lit., which I'm also teaching this fall, and in which we'll be reading snippets of Celestina, Lazarillo, Don Quixote, the complete Caballero de Olmedo, and a poem each (practically) by Garcilaso, Fray Luis, San Juan, Góngora, Quevedo, plus a novella by María de Zayas. Then we move on to the 19th century (don't wince, Dave), skipping the 18th entirely because of time considerations. The trade-off is that in that class I'm having the students read a complete Lorca play: Bodas de sangre.

The Golden Age class is one of three 400 level literature courses on our books, along with "Mexican Literature" and "Latin American Women Writers". I tend to follow a five-author-ten-weeks formula, shooting for a bit of both depth and breadth. I was considering branching out a bit with the Golden Age class in winter: it's the only class they'll take on Peninsular literature. Doesn't anyone know a good abridged version of DQ? (Blasphemy, blasphemy...)

No depth -- breadth

Did I spell that right? I'd go with complete readings of smaller works. Poems, a play or two, a short novel like Lazarillo, and short fiction.

My perception may be skewed, though. I've only ever taught the Quixote in a semester-length course, so my lesson plans are geared toward a more leisurely pace. And I suspect our program may be the only one in the universe that does not have a junior-level survey. All of our lit classes are 500 level. Don't ask me why. In five years I've never gotten a satisfying answer. Our intro to lit class is Spanish 500, a number that certainly sends the message that juniors should not take it, even though there's nothing preventing them from doing so. We're working to change that by, finally, adding a junior survey next semester.

Golden Age Course

I would assume that your 400 level students will have already read some of the texts mentioned in a 300 level survey. I would go with either a complete reading of DQ or complete readings of other works. Go for depth. This is 400, right?

Meerschaum pipe

How about this for a pipe? Three lines into The Purloined Letter I had to stop and look up the word meerschaum.

Golden Age, continued

I like the term Golden Age, though as a medievalist I'm supposed to object to it since it privileges the supposed intellectual and artistic superiority of the 16th/17th centuries while neglecting the accomplishments of, say, Alfonso X.

What to teach in a survey? I have taught surveys, but not exclusively of the Golden Age, and I have taught Golden Age, but never a comprehensive survey. Here are a few of my thoughts, though:

1. I can't imagine teaching Don Quijote in anything less than a semester. Perhaps it can be done, but I think it would overtax the students. Better to choose some representative Novelas ejemplares. La fuerza de la sangre is always a good one.
2. Definitely Garcilaso, San Juan, Fray Luis de Leon, Gongora, Quevedo.
3. Lazarillo. Read it in conjunction with the 1961 movie version.
4. Fuenteovejuna is a standard that must be in any G.A. survey. Other good theater: La vida es sueno, El burlador de Sevilla.
5. Balance out the ticket with some Santa Teresa, if you like, but you should definitely include Maria de Zayas. She has some really funky novelas.