LibGuides: Spanish Literature: Media

Featured Streaming Media

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Cervantes and the Legend of Don Quijote: The Spirit of a Book (56:08) Featuring film clips, reenactments, and dramatizations, this program examines the imperishable spirit of Don Quijote through the life of Cervantes and the literary masterpiece that bears Quijote’s name. Topics range from the place of Don Quijote in world literature and its influence on later writers, to autobiographical parallels between Quijote and Cervantes, to the universal qualities of Quijote and Sancho Panza, to the eternal search for utopia.
El Cantar de Mio Cid (Spanish with English Subtitles, 58:41) El Cid is unique among the world’s great epics because it was composed so close to the actual historical events (a mere 40 years after the death of Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, el Cid himself) that we can distinguish between man and legend. Meticulous attention to historical detail, spectacular cinematic production values, and the swashbuckling plot itself make this medieval epic superbly entertaining as well as educational.
Federico Garcia Lorca: Remembering the Earth (58:56) Over half a century has passed since famed poet-playwright Federico García Lorca was killed in Granada at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War. He lives on, however, in his immortal Canciones, Romancero Gitano, and La Casa de Bernarda Alba and other works that captured the soul of españa and the heart of the literary world. Archival footage and personal interviews with family members, poets, writers, and artists including Edward Albee and Philip Levine provide an accurate portrait of both Lorca the man and the literary giant. Portions of Lorca’s most famous works, interwoven throughout the program, are accompanied by contemporary images of the places he held most dear.
The Glories of Spanish Literatur Series (Spanish with English Subtitles, 13 Titles) Filmed on location at literary landmarks throughout Spain, this stylish 13-part series—created in consultation with the University of Salamanca—thoroughly examines the rich history of Spanish literature. Each program blends scholarly interviews and dramatic readings with images of manuscripts and artwork to sharply profile the Spanish authors, poets, and playwrights whose names rank high in the Western literary canon. A Films for the Humanities & Sciences Production. Spanish with burned-in English subtitles. 13-part series, 50 minutes each.
Juan Ramon Jimenez: A Movement Toward Purity (Spanish with English Subtitles, 57:23) warded the 1956 Nobel Prize in Literature, Juan Ramón Jiménez was a master of impressionistic language and imagery. Conveying his youthful interest in Romanticism and Symbolism, his subsequent emphasis on color and tonality, and his lifelong engagement with the spiritual dimensions of death and nothingness, the program describes the poet’s bouts with depression, his ties to other Spanish writers such as Rubén Darío and Francisco Villaespesa, and the travels undertaken by Jiménez and his wife, Zenobia Camprubí.
Lope Felix de Vega Carpio (Spanish with English Subtitles, 51:02) ombining beautiful location footage with original manuscripts, paintings, letters, readings, and scenes from selected performances, this program presents the life and works of Lope de Vega, the prolific playwright who single-handedly crafted a national drama for Spain.