This course will focus on the narratives, both in literature and film, that grew out of the modern experience of living in a big city in the 19th century, when Rio de Janeiro was the capital of the young Republic. The richness of Brazilian literature, however, is also made of the distinct voices and traditions from other regions, such as the Northeast, Bahia or Minas. A massive migration from the rural areas into the cities, where now 85% of the population lives, helped shape a complex landscape of urban narratives in the 20th century. Students will analyze primary sources, both novels and short stories, and this analysis will be supported by their adaptations in Brazilian cinema.
Learning outcomes:
By the end of the term, students will be able to:
Understand the complexity and dynamics of Brazilian language and culture
Relate their own experience of the city to the urban narratives of Rio
Realize the challenges of analyzing contemporary literature
Improve their writing skills while living in a foreign language
Method of presentation:
Class discussions, guest lectures, film viewings, and Moodle.
Required work and form of assessment:
Class participation (15%); midterm exam (25%); book and film review (25%); minicontos (10%); final exam (25%).
Book and Film Review: By the end of the semester, students will submit a 10-page analysis of an emblematic text in Brazilian urban narrative, selected together with the instructor. The review should include a comparison to its film adaptation, in order to analyze the counterpoint between literary and cinematic language.
Minicontos: While studying the contemporary genre of short short story in Brazil, which goes back to the Modernist movement in the 1920s, students will submit 5 (five) minicontos throughout the semester. These brief reports from Rio will encourage students to illustrate their experience in the city within the Brazilian literary tradition.
content:
Part I: 19th century Rio
Week 1: Reporting from the capital city. Journalism and history in Rio.
Required reading: João do Rio, “The Baby in Rose Tarletan” and “An Episode in a Hotel”, in: Jackson, K. David (ed.), pp. 116-127.
Field study: Arco do Teles and Rua do Ouvidor.
Week 2: Rio is my oyster. World literature in the city.
Required readings: Machado de Assis, “The Psychiatrist” and “The Devil’s Church”; Lima Barreto, “The Man Who Knew Javanese”, in: Jackson, K. David (ed.), pp. 127-135.
Part II: From rural to urban Brazil
Week 3: Life and politics in the Northeast.
Required reading: Graciliano Ramos, Barren Lives.
Film viewing: Nelson Pereira dos Santos, Vidas secas.
Week 4: Minas Gerais and the poetry of colonial Brazil.
Required reading: João Guimaraes Rosa, “The Third Bank of the River”, in: Jackson, K. David (ed.), pp. 315-319.
Film viewing: Nelson Pereira dos Santos, A terceira margem do rio.
Week 5: Manaus and the rubber boom.
Required reading: Hatoum, Milton: Orphans of Eldorado.
Week 6: Bahia: all roads lead to Africa.
Required reading: Jorge Amado, Captains of the Sands.
Film viewing: Cecilia Amado, Capitães da areia.
Week 7: From the Northeast to Rio. Midterm exam.
Required reading: Clarice Lispector, The Hour of the Star.
Film viewing: Suzana Amaral, A hora da estrela.
Part III: In the City
Week 8: The thriller in Rio.
Required readings: Rubem Fonseca, “The Taker”, and “Large Intestine”, in: Jackson, K. David (ed.), pp. 460-468.
Field study: Fonseca’s Rio.
Week 9: Women and literary tradition. From the center to the favela.
Required readings: Patricia Melo, The Killer; Carolina de Jesus, Child of the Dark.
Week 10: The reaction to violence in Brazil and abroad. The debate on national identity.
Required reading: Paulo Lins, City of God (excerpts).
Film viewing: Paulo Morelli, Cidade dos homens.
Week 11: The Miniconto and the Brazilian Modernist tradition.
Required reading: Dalton Trevisan, “The Vampire of Curitiba”.
Week 12: The ‘00’ Generation and the future of urban narratives in Brazil.
Book and film review due.
Required reading: Galera, Daniel, “Apnea”, and Laub, Michel, “Animals”, in: The Best Young Brazilian Writers. London: Granta, 2012 (forthcoming).
Final exam
Required readings:
Amado, Jorge. Captains of the Sands. New York: Avon Books, 1988.
Fonseca, Rubem. The Taker and Other Stories. University of Nebraska Press, 2008.
Hatoum, Milton. Orphans of Eldorado. Edinburgh: Canongate, 2012.
Jackson, K. David (ed.). Oxford Anthology of the Brazilian Short Story. Oxford University Press, 2006.
Jesus, Carolina de. Child of the Dark: The Diary of Carolina Maria de Jesús. New York: Dutton, 1962.
Lins, Paulo. City of God. New York: Grove Atlantic, 2006.
Lispector, Clarice. The Hour of the Star. New York: New Directions Books, 2011.
Machado de Assis, Joaquim. The Psychiatrist and Other Stories. U of California Press, 2000.
___________. The Devil’s Church And Other Stories. University of Texas Press, 1977.
Patricia Melo, The Killer: A Psychological Thriller. New York: Ecco Press, 1999.
Ramos, Graciliano. Barren Lives. Austin: The Texas Pan American Press, 1965.
Trevisan, Dalton. The Vampire of Curitiba and Other Stories. New York: Knopf, 1972.
Recommended readings:
Arons, Nick. Waiting for Rain: The Poetry and Politics of Drought in Northeast Brazil. Tucson: Arizona University Press, 2004.
Cândido, António. On Literature and Society. Princeton University Press, 1995.
Ferreira-Pinto, Cristina. Urban Voices: Contemporary Short Stories from Brazil. University Press of America, 1999.
Landes, Ruth. City of Women. Albuquerque: UNM, 1994 [1947].
Sadlier, Darlene. Brazil Imagined. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2008.
Other Resources:
FILMS:
Amado, Cecilia. Capitães da areia (2011).
Amaral, Suzana. A hora da estrela (1985).
Morelli, Paulo. Cidade dos homens (2007).
Pereira dos Santos, Nelson. Vidas secas (1964).
__________. A terceira magem do rio (1994).
Brief Biography of Instructor:
Beatriz Jaguaribe earned her Ph.D in Comparative Literature from Stanford University. She teaches at the School of Communications of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), and has been visiting professor at Dartmouth College, Stanford University, The New School of Social Research, and Princeton University. In 2004, she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship. Her research focuses on urban narratives and images of the self in Latin American literature and visual media, as well as national imaginaries and theories of modernity in Brazil and Argentina. Her publications include Fins de Século: cidade e cultura no Rio de Janeiro, Mapa do Maravilhoso do Rio de Janeiro, and O choque do real: estética, mídia e cultura. Her book Rio de Janeiro: Urban Life through the Eyes of the City, will be published by Routledge in 2013. She is currently the Andrés Bello Chair at the King Juan Carlos Center, New York University.
Urban Narratives in Modern Brazil
This course will focus on the narratives, both in literature and film, that grew out of the modern experience of living in a big city in the 19th century, when Rio de Janeiro was the capital of the young Republic. The richness of Brazilian literature, however, is also made of the distinct voices and traditions from other regions, such as the Northeast, Bahia or Minas. A massive migration from the rural areas into the cities, where now 85% of the population lives, helped shape a complex landscape of urban narratives in the 20th century. Students will analyze primary sources, both novels and short stories, and this analysis will be supported by their adaptations in Brazilian cinema.
By the end of the term, students will be able to:
Class discussions, guest lectures, film viewings, and Moodle.
Class participation (15%); midterm exam (25%); book and film review (25%); minicontos (10%); final exam (25%).
Book and Film Review: By the end of the semester, students will submit a 10-page analysis of an emblematic text in Brazilian urban narrative, selected together with the instructor. The review should include a comparison to its film adaptation, in order to analyze the counterpoint between literary and cinematic language.
Minicontos: While studying the contemporary genre of short short story in Brazil, which goes back to the Modernist movement in the 1920s, students will submit 5 (five) minicontos throughout the semester. These brief reports from Rio will encourage students to illustrate their experience in the city within the Brazilian literary tradition.
Part I: 19th century Rio
Week 1: Reporting from the capital city. Journalism and history in Rio.
Week 2: Rio is my oyster. World literature in the city.
Part II: From rural to urban Brazil
Week 3: Life and politics in the Northeast.
Week 4: Minas Gerais and the poetry of colonial Brazil.
Week 5: Manaus and the rubber boom.
Week 6: Bahia: all roads lead to Africa.
Week 7: From the Northeast to Rio. Midterm exam.
Part III: In the City
Week 8: The thriller in Rio.
Week 9: Women and literary tradition. From the center to the favela.
Week 10: The reaction to violence in Brazil and abroad. The debate on national identity.
Week 11: The Miniconto and the Brazilian Modernist tradition.
Week 12: The ‘00’ Generation and the future of urban narratives in Brazil.
Final exam
FILMS:
Beatriz Jaguaribe earned her Ph.D in Comparative Literature from Stanford University. She teaches at the School of Communications of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), and has been visiting professor at Dartmouth College, Stanford University, The New School of Social Research, and Princeton University. In 2004, she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship. Her research focuses on urban narratives and images of the self in Latin American literature and visual media, as well as national imaginaries and theories of modernity in Brazil and Argentina. Her publications include Fins de Século: cidade e cultura no Rio de Janeiro, Mapa do Maravilhoso do Rio de Janeiro, and O choque do real: estética, mídia e cultura. Her book Rio de Janeiro: Urban Life through the Eyes of the City, will be published by Routledge in 2013. She is currently the Andrés Bello Chair at the King Juan Carlos Center, New York University.