Programme

The course aims to show students the literary reworking of political violence in Brazil during the years of military dictatorship (1964-1985), as presented in some recent novels. In a perspective that places Brazilian authoritarianism within a broader Latin American framework, literary texts will be analyzed through tools and methodologies related to Trauma Studies and testimonial literature.
In a first phase, the general concepts will be presented and the historical context reconstructed. Subsequently, the novels in the program will be analyzed.

Core Documentation

Bernardo Kucinski, K. Relato de uma busca, São Paulo, Cosac Naify, 2014 (2011) [tr.it. K o la figlia desaparecida, Firenze, Giuntina, 2016]

G. Agamben, Quel che resta di Auschwitz. L’archivio e il testimone, Torino, Bollati Boringhieri, 1998.
Janaína de Almeida Teles, Os familiares de mortos e desaparecidos políticos e a luta por “verdade e justiça” no Brasil, in Edson Teles – Vladimir Safatle (orgs), O que resta da ditadura. A exceção brasileira, São Paulo, Boitempo, 2010 pp. 299-318

Type of delivery of the course

The course will take place in frontal teaching mode.

Attendance

Attendance at lessons is optional

Type of evaluation

The student must submit - at least ten days before the oral exam - a final report. The report, of about 10 pages and agreed in advance with the professor, will focus on the topics covered during the lessons. The final check of the learning will be made through a final oral test of about 30 minutes. The interview will consist of three questions all related to the examination program and aimed at verifying the level of effective understanding of the contents of the course. The final grade will take into account the quality of the final report and the oral test. In the summer session only, oral interview, held remotely, via audio-video conference with the use of Microsoft Teams software.