This course addresses the main questions related to the notions of literature and culture, as well as models of literary reading. It will survey the major schools of 20th and 21st century literary criticism and theory and continue to discuss theoretical notions through the reading and analysis of both critical essays and Portuguese literary texts. Emphasis will be on the continuity of key ideas in the history of criticism. We will also consider debates surrounding multiculturalism, feminism, political correctness, textual authority, and literary canon. Selected literary texts include Patricia Portela, Dias Úteis; José Maria Vieira Mendes, Padam, Padam; Maria Isabel Barreno, Maria Teresa Horta and Maria Velho da Costa, Novas Cartas Portuguesas; João Pedro Vale and Nuno Alexandre Ferreira, Aqueles que só fazem meia revolução apenas cavam a sua própria sepultura; Grada Kilomba, Memórias da Plantação and selected poems by Mário Cesariny and Herberto Hélder. The course aims to continue to provide a general overview of the main theoretical and methodological questions in the fields of literary and cultural studies and to develop students’ critical analysis and written and oral skills. Addressed questions: to develop practical tools for reading and analyzing literature; what does theory tell us about the function and social value of literature in the postmodern world context.

CILO-1: Understand the relevance and value of theoretical models in literary and cultural study and summarize key concepts or arguments at the fields of literary and cultural studies. CILO-2: Use methodological and theoretical tools to read literary texts. CILO-3: Develop skills to produce critical discourse through original and persuasive arguments, both orally and in writing. CILO-4: Encourage independent learning supported by an enlarged knowledge of literary uses of language, academic essays and rigorous textual analysis.