Narrating Poverty in Brazil

Catalog description

Taught in English. This course examines literary works in various genres (novels, autobiography, short stories), and Brazilian films (Cinema Novo and after, including documentaries), that attempt to narrate the experience of poverty. We will discuss texts by Graciliano Ramos, Carolina Maria de Jesus, Clarice Lispector, Rubem Fonseca, and Patricia Melo and view films (Barren Lives, The Scavengers, The Hour of the Star, Pixote, Bus 174 and City of God, Babilônia 2000 and Black Orpheus), in light of key questions. How do these texts reflect on the nature of representation and on the investments of author and reader in images of deprivation? How do they present the connections of poverty with violence, stigmatization, and citizenship rights? How do they frame the ethical responsibilities of the writer or film-maker, as well as of readers and spectators? What are the patterns of consumption and circulation of these texts?