PT|EN
Literaturas de Língua Portuguesa
Courses Licenciatura em Humanidades
Cod: 51155
Department: DH
ECTS: 6
Scientific area: Sem Área Científica
Total working hours: 156
Total contact time: 15

This course proposes an in-depth reading of texts from Brazilian Literature, from the 19th century to the present day, with a focus on the relationship between space, identity, and memory. It aims to outline a representative overview of the literary diversity of Brazil, highlighting works in which fiction serves as a space for constructing memory, in dialogue with the country’s historical, cultural, and geographical contexts.

Throughout the semester, students will analyze texts that revisit the past and explore tensions between the individual and familial or social spaces. Critical tools and key concepts for interpreting literary works will be mobilized, alongside academic studies and interpretive approaches that help to understand the specificities and transformations of Brazilian Literature over time.

The selected corpus includes short stories, excerpts from novels, and theoretical texts, with particular emphasis on the full reading of two central works — by Machado de Assis and Milton Hatoum — which offer different perspectives on periods, landscapes, and visions of Brazil, from the 19th century to the present, from Rio de Janeiro to Manaus.

Brazilian Literature

Space

Memory

Identity

 

By the end of this course, undergraduate students are expected to have developed the following general and specific skills:

  • Ability to identify and contextualize key periods, literary movements, and major works of Brazilian Literature, from the 19th century to the present day;
  • Ability to recognize and critically analyze representations of space, memory, and identity in the works studied;
  • Ability to establish connections between literary texts and their historical, social, and cultural contexts, valuing the diversity of Brazil’s literary expressions;
  • Ability to apply fundamental concepts from literary theory to the reading and interpretation of narrative texts, with autonomy and argumentative rigor;
  • Ability to engage with different critical perspectives and develop well-grounded interpretations, respecting the plurality of approaches within literary studies;
  • Ability to communicate ideas and analyses in a clear, structured manner appropriate to academic discourse.

The course Portuguese-Language Literatures offers a critical and contextualized reading of texts from Brazilian Literature, from the 19th century to the present day, focusing on the thematic axes of space, identity, and memory. It explores representative works from different periods, in an approach that combines textual analysis with contributions from literary theory and criticism, encouraging close reading of the texts’ historical, cultural, and aesthetic dimensions.

The course is organized around three main themes, which guide the work carried out throughout the semester:

  1. From the Court to the Republic: literature, culture, and society in nineteenth-century Brazil;
  2. “To tie together the two ends of life”: the construction of space and memory in Machado de Assis;
  3. Of houses and ghosts: contemporary Brazilian Literature.

NOTE: Only a few mandatory and/or reference readings are listed here. Specific bibliography for each of the modules in the syllabus will be provided during the course.

ASSIS, Machado de. 50 contos de Machado de Assis. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2007.

ASSIS, Machado de. Dom Casmurro. Lisboa: Guerra e Paz, 2021.

ASSIS, Machado de. Esaú e Jacó. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2012.

BARRETO, Lima. Contos completos. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2010.

BOSI, Alfredo. História concisa da Literatura Brasileira. 43. ed. São Paulo: Cultrix, 2006.

CALDWELL, Helen. O Otelo brasileiro de Machado de Assis: um estudo de Dom Casmurro. Trad. Fábio Fonseca de Melo. Cotia: Ateliê Editorial, 2002.

CANDIDO, Antonio. Formação da Literatura Brasileira: momentos decisivos. São Paulo: Todavia, 2023.

CHALHOUB, Sidney. Machado de Assis, historiador. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2003.

FAUSTO, Boris. História concisa do Brasil. São Paulo: Edusp, 2001.

HATOUM, Milton. A cidade ilhada. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2009.

HATOUM, Milton. Dois irmãos. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2000.

HATOUM, Milton. Órfãos do Eldorado. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2008.

MATE, Alexandre; SCHWARCZ, Pedro Moritz (eds.). Antologia do teatro brasileiro: século XIX. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2012.

SCHWARCZ, Lilia Moritz; STARLING, Heloisa Murgel. Brasil: uma biografia. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2015.

E-learning

The preferred assessment method is continuous assessment, consisting of two written assignments in digital format (e-fólios) completed throughout the semester, and a final assessment entitled e-fólio Global (e-fólioG), to be held at the end of the semester, contributing 40% and 60%, respectively, to the final grade.

Students may, however, choose — within the established deadline — to be assessed through a single evaluation moment, by taking a final exam worth 100% of the final grade.