Study of the seventeenth-century Transatlantic Hispanic world that, after the epoch of the discovery and expansion in the sixteenth century, faces economic and political downfall. This downfall is accompanied by a social and spiritual crisis that results in the culture of baroque. Readings include classical theories of the baroque, of the 20th-century Latin American neobaroque, and of postmodernism. These theories serve as a backdrop to the reading of a selection of literary texts by such authors as Cervantes, Góngora, Quevedo, Sor Juana, Sigüenza y Góngora, Gracián, Zayas, and Calderón, and a selection of 20th century neobaroque Latin American authors.