CULTURA E LETTERATURA PORTOGHESE I

Aim of the course is to provide theoretical, historical and literary tools to approach and critically understand the Portuguese culture and literatue between the origins and the eighteenth century, and to approach Brazilan culture and literature through some of its colonial and post-colonial literary representations. The course program stimulates students to associate the birth and development of Portuguese literature with the formulation of those identity processes which characterize the representation of Portugal, and at the same time to understand some essential aspects of the representation of Brazil during and after the colonial era.

The course is organized in lectures, dedicated to the historical context, history of literature and conceptual apparatus. In the second part it requires the active participation of students, through group and individual analysis and commentary of literary texts and critical essays.

PART A

The first part focuses on the birth, consolidation and on the problems related to a Portuguese identity that since its origins is deeply connected to the literary discourse that "thinks" the nation by constructing its founding images and myths. The programme starts from the origins of the Kingdom and of the Portuguese literature to then focus on the crucial moments of the formation of the Empire, between the fourteenth and the sixteenth century, and on its literary, epic and historiographical narration. It then focuses on the historical and literary events of the years of the “Monarquia Dual” and the consolidation of Portuguese colonialism in the South Atlantic.

PART B

The second part forsees the active participation of students working on one of the following literary and conceptual themes: a) Foundation, myth and identity; b) The narration of the encounter; c) Language, nation and empire.

PART A

1) Valeria Tocco, Breve storia della letteratura portoghese, Roma, Carocci, 2011 (capp. da 1 a 4)

2) R. Vecchi-V. Russo, La letteratura portoghese. I testi e le idee, Milano, Mondadori, 2017 (in the first part of the course the literary texts from the anthology to be included in the program will be indicated)

3) For non-attending students: José Hermano Saraiva, Storia del Portogallo, Milano, Mondadori, 2004 (cap. da 1 a 7)

PART B

Materials uploaded on Studium, related to the following themes: a) Foundation, myth and identity; b) The narration of the encounter; c) Language, nation and empire.