29898 - Portuguese and Brazilian Literature 1 (LM)

Learning outcomes

A very good knowledge of Portuguese is essential, since the lessons will be taught in this language. Furthermore, the student has deep knowledge about the history of Portuguese and Brazilian literatures and cultures, with a particular attention paid to the relation between literary texts and the historical, artistic and linguistic contexts. He knows, and is able to use, practical and effective methods for the analysis and interpretation of literary texts and other cultural objects.

Course contents

 The course is entiteld “The construction of the victim in Brazilian literature” and is taught in Portuguese. In recent years, the mythology of the victim has been subjected to harsh criticism in different cultural contexts , such as in Italy for example, so as to be considered polemically a "hero of our time" . If this criticism is "anti- vitimista " you can see the attempt to respond to the limits of representation of violence where it can find its own policy of the name, in the case of Brazilian culture, the problem is much more complex .

In the Brazilian literature , in fact, since the nineteenth century, it is noticeable attempt to enter the victim lit the horizon of literature , to compensate in some way its absence in a social context in which it is actually the remains of a sacertas makes it invisible therefore unavoidable . These devices are production of otherness and exclusion identified as modern forms of the nation. L ' undecidability of victims in conflict and violence historians , its construction and compensatory policy on the literary , are probably their apogee in such works as those of Euclides and Graciliano or , more recently, in the narrative of Clarice Lispector and Rubem Fonseca . In the contemporary era then , the vocalization of the literary suburbs poses additional problems of a critic , in relation to the literary construction of the victim, especially when it is defined as a partial or reflective in contemporary fiction.

This course dialogues, in this academic year, with other courses of the School pledged to deepen the macro-concepts "Identity, otherness, difference, diversity '"

Readings/Bibliography

Essential Bibliography 

Primary sources
Euclides da Cunha, Os sertões

Graciliano Ramos, Memórias do cárcere

Clarice Lispector, A hora da estrela

Rubem Fonseca, Feliz ano novo

Rubens Figueiredo, Passageiro do fim do dia

Secondary bibliography

Esther Benbassa La sofferenza come identità, Verona, Ombre corte, 2009

Giovanni de Luna, La Repubblica del dolore, Milano, Feltrinelli, 2011

Daniele Giglioli, Critica della vittima, Roma, Nottetempo, 2014firma

Philippe Mesnard, Attualità della vittima. La rappresentazione umanitaria della sofferenza, Verona, Ombre corte, 2004

Text in common with other courses about the macro-concept in discussion

Judith Butler, Corpi che contano. Milano: Feltrinelli, 1996.

Teaching methods

The method proposed in the course is mixed: it provides, in addition to the traditional lessons, collective workshop for the discussion of common texts, the construction of specific thematic routes to each individual student, the planning shared by all the class of a work project, a final presentation of each personal work with the participation of all the class. In this way, the preparation is assessed partly during the course, not only in a final test.

Assessment methods

The exam aims to assess the achievement of the main learning objectives of the course, namely: forming a deep critical knowledge about the history and theory of Portuguese, Brazilian and African Portuguese-speaking literatures and cultures, with particular attention to the relation between literary texts and the historical, cultural and aesthetic contexts; strengthening a wide knowledge and use of critical methodologies and practices for the analysis and interpretation of literary texts and the historical and cultural contexts. The exam will be articulated on different tests that contribute to determine the final evaluation and disseminated during the course. In fact, it is articulated in different modes: organization of joint seminars where an active participation in the discussion is a favorable element for the assessment of the skills in order to achieve progressively and integrally the course objectives; preparation of a final work with a deep analysis of a topic among those approached during the course and its following discussion in the occasion of a final oral test on the main topics of the course. The student will be put in the condition, either through the lessons and an appropriate path of readings, to achieve the objectives of the course. The evaluation will be proportionate to the performance of the student in the different moments of the course. In this sense, it will be considereted satisfactory an informed knowledge of the main topics addressed, intersected with critical methodologies used during the development of the course. If this essential level is not achieved, the student will be put anyway in the condition, through an integrative program of individual readings, to reach an acceptable level of comptences. The articulation of the knowledges on a more varied and lucidly composed textual, contextual and critical framework, dialoguing not only with the premises but also with the most crucial topics of the course, in particular those of conceptual order, will add value to the overall evaluation of the student. Finally, in this context, the integration of a critical and orginal contribution, capable to open new and alternative perspectives of analysis and interpretation of the mains issues of the course, is  evaluated as an excellent result of the student's performance.

Teaching tools

For its conceptual nature the course defines a strict dialogue between literatures, arts and cultures. For this reason, beside literary texts, to which a specific workshop (reading and commenting) will be dedicated, other multemedia and internet contents will be introduced, in order to build an organic and clear framework of the topic. Different materials and texts used during  the lessons are made ​​available to students through a collaborative platform set up specifically for the class.

Links to further information

http://www.facli.unibo.it

Office hours

See the website of Roberto Vecchi