Here is a reading list for students considering graduate work in Spanish. Here is my list for students considering Latin American literature as a secondary field for the Ph.D in another literature. Like the SMT list, it is not a reading list for the actual examination, but a preliminary list.
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Here is an ancient article by José Miguel Oviedo on one of my key poems, Trilce II, that I never read. It talks about “el hombre vallejiano” as a “ser entreabierto” and I tell you, I was on the right track in my text even though it was poorly formed; it deserved work but I, as the person who would sign the work, wanted to be the one in charge of it, and I did not know this was allowed. It is quite odd I should have overlooked that possibility, or that I did not check into it more seriously.
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Actually, and this goes to the question of professionalization of graduate students, I got the impression that one was in charge of one’s own work from high school up until the Ph.D exam but had to renounce sovereignty at that point, i.e. during the oral. This brings people into the profession but it may be what kept so many in my program from actually writing the dissertation.
Axé.
coldhearted scientist وداد 