Class Theory of Literature

The course unit Literary Theory introduces students to the main concepts, critical approaches and methodologies of literary analysis, promoting an in-depth reflection on the nature, functions and modes of interpretation of literature. As part of the BA in Portuguese Studies, this unit provides essential theoretical tools for the study of Portuguese-language literatures, combining historical, cultural and aesthetic perspectives. Through a critical and interdisciplinary approach, students develop skills in the reading, analysis and interpretation of literary texts, exploring issues such as authorship, genre, narrative, representation and reception. The unit contributes to the understanding of literature as a form of artistic expression, knowledge construction and cultural transmission, while strengthening analytical skills that are essential in academic, cultural and professional contexts.

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1. Reading and interpretation a) writing and reading; description and interpretation; b) aesthetic of reception, diversity of interpretations; c) forms of reception and transmission of texts in history. 2. The historicity of literature and literary texts a) literature and its existence in history, in various dimensions - author, reader, book; b) text and context; c) the materiality of the book and its consequences for reading.

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Bourbon, Brett e Miguel Tamen (2024). Thinking with words. A Literary Groundwork. New York: Routledge. Brooks, Peter (2022). Seduced by Story. The Use and Abuse of Narrative. New York: The New York Review of Books. de Man, Paul (1986 [1982]). "The Return to Philology". The Resistance to Theory. W. Godzich (ed.). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota. 21-26. Eagleton, Terry (2022). Critical Revolutionaries: Five Critics Who Changed the Way We Read. Yale: Yale University Press. Gusmão, Manuel (2001). "Da literatura enquanto construção histórica". Novos caminhos da Literatura Comparada. Helena C. Buescu, João Ferreira Duarte, Manuel Gusmão (org.). Lisboa: Publicações Dom Quixote. 181-224. Sontag, Susan (2022 [1966]). Contra a interpretação e outros ensaios. Lisboa: Quetzal Editores.