Fall 2008

POR 375 • Two Significant Moments in Brazilian Letters: Machado de Assis and João Cabral de Melo Neto

Course Description

This course will study the works of two major writers within their respective historical contexts. The study of Machado de Assis will give the students the opportunity to discuss two principal moments of the Second Kingdom Brazilian culture: Romanticism and Realism. An in-depth analysis of these two periods will demonstrate Machado de Assis's docile adherence to the aesthetics of the historical moment before he turned 40 years old, and a more combative attitude at an older age. Reading will include poems, short stories and novels. Similarly, João Cabral de Melo Netos evolution as a writer demonstrates a similar trajectory: his assimilation of the avant-garde movements, his social and political poetry, and his existential and experimental verses. João Cabral will be read as an example of the great Brazilian poet representative of modern poetry in Brazil, mainly through the works he collected in Poesias Completas, 1968. Individual and stylistic characteristics of both authors will be studied: humor, parody, skepticism, and irony. On the other hand, the social participation will be highlighted with the same intensity in both authors.

Grading Policy

5 Quizzes: 50% Final Exam:30% Class Participation (Attendance, Active Participation, Homework): 20%

Texts

Assis, Machado. Contos. Seleção e Introdução de Ivan Teixeira. University Co-op. Teixeira, Ivan. Apresentação de Machado de Assis. 2ª edição. São Paulo, Martins Fontes, 1988. Melo Neto, João Cabral. Poesia Completa. Rio de Janeiro, Editora Sabiá, 1968.

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