Gabriel García Márquez's Cien años de soledad Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez is one of the most significant authors of 20th century literature, and Cien años de soledad is often considered the most important Latin American novel ever written. In this course we will delve into this masterpiece from different perspectives. Through close-reading we will focus on its literary aspects - form, style, metaphor - while making connections with García Márquez’s life, Colombian history, Cold War politics, the Latin American Boom, metafiction, magical realism, and issues of race and gender. (Two Spanish courses at the 0300-level or above, or waiver)

Posse Scholars Leadership Development This course is designed to promote the intellectual, social, and civic development of first-year Posse scholars, both individually and as a group. Students will attend weekly workshops drawing from the Posse Foundation’s leadership curriculum. Workshops will also draw on the instructor’s areas of expertise and will focus on topics most pertinent to students’ goals and needs. Some workshops will include guest lectures, experiential learning, and student-facilitated discussion.  Students will reflect on their learning in bi-weekly meetings with the instructor, as well as in writing.  They will also identify initiatives or projects they wish to promote on campus or in the local community, applying what they have learned. (This course is only open to sophomores.)

Intermediate Spanish II A course for students seeking to perfect their academic writing skills in Spanish. The course is also an introduction to literary analysis and critical writing and will include reading and oral discussion of literary texts. The course will also include a thorough review of grammar at a fairly advanced level. This course may be used to fulfill the foreign languages distribution requirement.

(Intimate) Otherness in Contemporary Hispanic Fiction Recent Hispanic literature locates otherness in ambiguous spaces. The "other" can be excluded in order to demarcate selfhood, but also recognized as internal ("intimate") to a complex and perhaps richer self. In this course students will sharpen oral and written communication skills and build a sophisticated vocabulary to analyze the literary and cultural context of the Spanish speaking world. This goal will be accomplished through readings in late 20th/early 21st century short stories and novellas from the Iberian Peninsula and Spanish America. Race, gender, class, nationality, and health are some perspectives we will adopt in order to map the literary production/deconstruction of "others" as marginalized/embraced subjects.

Peru: Identity, Ethnicity, History In this course we will study Peru’s diverse cultures, races, and ethnicities. Our discussion of Peruvian identity(-ies) will be connected to an exploration of selected topics of history and politics, with an emphasis on contemporary Peru: the Internal Conflict, Fujimori's dictatorship, and the return to democracy (1980-the present). We will read literary works and historical accounts, watch films and documentaries, and look at art and photography in order to extract their key themes and better understand the construction of Peru as a complex, multilingual nation, considering its past, present, and future. Relations with the United States and Latin America will be addressed.

Beginning Spanish II This course is a continuation of SPAN 0101. Intensive reading, writing, and oral activities will advance students’ proficiency in Spanish in an academic setting.

Beginning Spanish I This course is an introduction to the fundamentals of grammar and focuses on the development of four skills in Spanish: comprehension, speaking, reading, and writing. Emphasis will be placed on active communication aimed at the development of oral and comprehension skills. This course is for students who have not previously studied Spanish. Students are expected to continue with SPAN 0104 after successful completion of SPAN 0101.

The Latin American ‘novela total’ In this seminar we will read Latin American ‘total novels’: long and complex fictional artifacts that purport to map the whole of reality in all its perspectives. We will analyze the structure of landmark ‘total novels,’ explore the intersection of modernist aesthetics and Cold War politics that made them possible, and probe their current relevance. Texts may include Cien años de soledad (1967) by García Márquez and Conversación en La Catedral (1969) by Vargas Llosa, as well as more recent novels that attempt to renew this tradition.

Creative Reading & Writing In this course we will read and write short stories in Spanish. After Borges, Latin American writers understand their task as the creative reading and rewriting of literary tradition. The first module of the course is devoted to developing students’ awareness of how reading and writing are intertwined through intertextuality. The second module offers a workshop in which students will produce their own fiction and comment on their classmates’ work. Through creative reading and writing, students will hone their skills in Spanish.

The Luso Hispanic Fiction Writer In this course we will study the representation of the writer of fiction in Luso-Hispanic contemporary narrative. As Julio Premat argues, writers often understand their task not only as the creation of literary works, but also as the fashioning of an authorial self within fiction and through essays, interviews, photographs. We will study how and why such images are crafted, and how they reflect ideas about the aesthetic and political role of the writer, the “truth” of fiction, the interplay between literature and reality, and the relationship between authorship and gender. Portuguese-language texts will be read in Spanish translation.

Luis Castaneda

Reviews and ratings for Luis Castaneda at Middlebury College.Luis Castaneda teaches Cien años de soledad, Posse Leadership Development, Intermediate Spanish II and more.  Explore top rated instructors and find the best for you.Is Luis Castaneda good ? Find out on MiddCourses.

As someone who took SPAN 0201, this class is very similar. It focused a lot on grammar, and we also utilized the Connect online textbook for exercises. My only complaint about the class is that there was a lot of me teaching myself outside of class, and then coming to class ready to practice. Towards the end of the course, it flipped to us being taught in class, and then us practicing outside of class. I am someone who appreciates being taught in class, and then applying the newly learned concepts in my own time. We also read Fiesta en la Madriguera, which was interesting. We had 1 group project where we presented on whatever topic we wanted (spanish related), as well as 2 in-class papers, which were easy as well. 

Professor Castaneda is incredibly kind and very effective at teaching Spanish and meeting his students where they are at. He prioritizes learning and doesn't intend for it to be hard to get a good grade.

I really enjoyed this spanish course. The classes fly by and a lot of class time is based around discussion but Luis does not make you feel anxious to speak whatsoever. All of the graded material is doable and grading is fair. Overall he is extremely helpful and kind and the class environment is a really enjoyable one.