The Department of Literature of the Faculty of Linguistics and Literature of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (UC) brings together more than twenty professors, renowned researchers in the study of Chilean, Latin American, Spanish, and English-language literature, and who, together with guest professors, teach the courses in the two degrees offered by the Faculty: the BA in Spanish Linguistics & Literature and the BA in English Linguistics & Literature.
In the last decade, the Department has established itself as a space for convergence around diverse literary voices and different areas of interdisciplinary research such as literary genres, rhetoric, orality, literary criticism and theory, cultural and gender studies, ecocriticism, and intermediality. Through the courses it defines, develops and imparts, the Department seeks to develop students’ skills for understanding, analyzing and interpretation of various cultural manifestations and their relationship with literature and other disciplines.
Every year, the Department, jointly with the José Nuez Martín Foundation, awards an Award of the same name for the best novel or play written in the country during the last two years. In addition, every six months, the Department invites a writer (narrator or poet) to teach a creative writing workshop known as the Writer in Residence Professorship. Diamela Eltit, Jorge Volpi, Raúl Zurita, Nona Fernández, Ana María Shua, and Alejandro Zambra have been some of the writers and artists invited to this professorship. The Department organizes talks, conferences and academic meetings such as the Chilean-Transatlantic conferences with Brown University in 2016; the 40th Anniversary of the Chilean Society of Literary Studies (SOCHEL) in 2019; and, in recent years, the nomination, with the support of the Provost, of Diamela Eltit and Elicura Chihuailaf as candidates for the National Prize for Literature.
Since 1994, the UC Faculty of Linguistics and Literature has awarded, together with the Foundation of the same name, the José Nuez Award, alternately for the best novel and the best play published in Chile during the last two years. The prize has been awarded to prominent authors of Chilean literature such as Jorge Díaz, Diamela Eltit, Juan Radrigán, Egon Wolf, Jorge Edwards, Nona Fernández, and Alejandro Zambra, and also to young playwrights such as Manuela Infante, Guillermo Calderón, and Pablo Manzi.
The UC Bachelor of Arts in Spanish Linguistics and Literature has a traditional Writer in Residence Professorship. This intensive elective course is for undergraduate students and is taught by a writer or other prominent artist. The main objective of the course is to develop creative writing (narration, poetry, scripts, décimas, etc.) based on the experience and guidance of the visiting professor. The course has a workshop modality and, in general, has only a few students in order to ensure a productive experience. Creators such as Oscar Hahn, Lucía Guerra, Jaime Huenún, Elvira Hernández, Malú Urreola, and Alejandra Costamagna have been some of our “residents”.
The Department of Language Sciences of the Faculty of Linguistics and Literature brings together more than 25 specialists in various fields of theoretical and applied linguistics, both in Spanish and English. Among the Department’s subjects of study are grammatical, phonetic, semantic, discursive and pragmatic studies, text linguistics, philology and classical language studies, the history of the Spanish language and the interdisciplines of psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics and computational linguistics.
These subjects are taught in compulsory and elective courses at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. In undergraduate studies, Linguistics branches out into two programs: the degree in Spanish Language and Literature and the degree in English Language and Literature, with their respective concentrations. These concentrations offer students the possibility of deepening their knowledge through four required courses, five intensive electives and two research courses in linguistics (a list of research topics for each semester, on the DiDoc page) given in the last year of the program. The Department offers courses in English-language Pedagogy in a joint program with the Faculty of Education.
The Department also offers five graduate programs, a Ph.D. in Linguistics and master’s degrees in: Linguistics, Translation, and Linguistics Applied to English as a Foreign Language (EFL). Secondly, the Department imparts specialization certificate courses in Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language, Editing and Publishing, English for Preschool and Primary Education (first cycle), and Strategies to Stimulate Oral and Written Language in Preschool and Primary Education. Lastly, the College’s Academic Discourse studies with its programs are also ascribed to this Department.
The Permanent Colloquium on Linguistics and Translation is part of the Department of Linguistics and Literature, and its objective is to maintain a meeting space between professors and students of Linguistics within the Faculty and with members of other national and international institutions, the organization of various congresses and conferences, and the dissemination of knowledge through its journal, Onomázein.