MEDIEVAL PICTORIAL ART AND MEDIEVAL SPANISH LITERATURE - A CASE IN POINT FOR THE USE OF THE VISUAL-ARTS IN THE LITERATURE CLASS

This article's purpose is to demonstrate how the literature/visual arts connection-a hallmark of comparative literature-can be applied as an effective new teaching technique in the foreign language literature class. As the centerpiece of the article, the technique's usefulness is illustrated by showing how the puzzling, enigmatic structure of the medieval Spanish masterpiece, the Libro de buen amor, becomes clear when the text is compared with medieval pictorial art pieces. Prior to the unfolding of this example in the article, the following topics related to this technique are addressed: its value to literature teaching in general, and its particular advantages for foreign language literature instruction; the validity of interarts comparisons, and guidelines for instructor use of the technique.