Problematics of Literary Criticism - 1st semester
Code
722091133
Academic unit
Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas
Department
Estudos Portugueses
Credits
10
Teacher in charge
Gustavo Rubim
Weekly hours
3 letivas + 1 tutorial
Teaching language
Portuguese
Objectives
Students are expected to get acquainted with a set of recurrent questions in the history of the disputes that, from Romanticism to this day, have structured the field of literary criticism. The point of departure for the building of such knowledge is set on recent discussions that called into question even the legitimacy of Literary Studies as an autonomous discourse. Students should acknowledge and adopt advanced terminology as well as become able to scrutinize critical discourse in its inner conflicts and different ways of relating to literary writing; and should also get used to study the permanent interconnections between literary criticism, humanities in general and the social sciences.
Prerequisites
None.
Subject matter
1. Literature, criticism and the problems of modernity
1.1. The problematics of the work: romanticism and critical theory
1.2. The problematics of writing: between archeology and deconstruction
1.3. The problematics of time: the paradoxes of modernity
2. Criticism, frontier, canon: literary anthropologies
2.1. Literature as a national institution: romantic cultural politics
2.2. On the limits of Europe: critical maps of modernism in Portuguese language
2.3. Discovering China: writing, translation and identity problems
Bibliography
Attridge, Derek, The Singularity of Literature, London & New York, Routledge, 2004.
Auerbach, Erich, Philology and Weltliteratur, in Damrosch / Melas / Buthelezi 2009, pp. 125-138.
Barthes, Roland, Escritores e Escreventes, A Actividade Estruturalista e O que é a crítica?, in Ensaios Críticos, Lisboa, Edições 70, 2ª ed., 2009.
Coelho, Eduardo Prado, Os Universos da Crítica. Paradigmas nos Estudos Literários, Lisboa, Edições 70, 1982.
Damrosch, David / Melas, Natalie / Buthelezi, Mbongiseni, The Princeton Sourcebook in Comparative Literature, Princeton & Oxford, Princeton University Press, 2009.
Silva, Vítor Manuel de Aguiar e, As Humanidades, os Estudos Culturais, o Ensino da Literatura e a Política da Língua Portuguesa, Coimbra, Edições Almedina, 2010.
Teaching method
The seminar will always begin with a teacher´s lecture (of variable length) designed as a framework for the reading of the critical, theoretical or literary texts previously announced and made available for the students. After that, the detailed discussion and interpretation of the texts demands for the active participation of the students. Texts are read, as a rule, in their original language, but in English, Portuguese or Spanish translation whenever they were written in any other languages.
Evaluation method
The seminar evaluation obeys to the following criteria: 70% of the final grade is due to a paper (10 to 15 pages) to be delivered by the end of the period of the regular sessions; 30% are due to the student´s work along the seminar classes, including a short oral presentation of the project for the final paper and its discussion.