The Department of Romance Languages and Literatures

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2006-2007 Undergraduate Courses in Portuguese

AUTUMN WINTER SPRING
10100 Elementary Portuguese I 10200 Elementary Portuguese II 10300 Elementary Portuguese III
20100 Intermediate Portuguese 20200 Advanced Portuguese 12200 Portuguese for Spanish Speakers
29700 Readings in Special Topics 29700 Readings in Special Topics 21500 Estilística da língua portuguesa
  29900 B.A. Paper Preparation: Portuguese 29700 Readings in Special Topics

Some 30000 and 40000-level courses in Portuguese (PORT) are open to advanced undergraduates in Romance Languages with consent of instructor. Please contact the department for further information.

Language

Language (must be taken for a quality grade)


10100-10200-10300. Beginning Elementary Portuguese I, II, III. Must be taken for a quality grade. This three-quarter sequence is designed for beginning and beginning-intermediate students in Portuguese. Its aim is providing students with a solid foundation in the basic patterns of spoken and written Portuguese (e.g., grammar, vocabulary, phonetics, sociocultural norms) to develop their speaking, listening, writing, and reading skills to the level required to demonstrate competency on the Portuguese examination. Although the three classes constitute a sequence leading to the Portuguese competency examination, there is enough review and recycling at every level for students to enter the sequence at whatever level is appropriate for them. A.M. Lima. Autumn, Winter, Spring.


12200. Portuguese for Spanish Speakers. PQ: SPAN 20100 or consent of instructor. Must be taken for a quality grade. This class is designed for speakers of Spanish to develop competence quickly in spoken and written Portuguese. In this intermediate-level course, students learn ways to apply their Spanish language skills to mastering Portuguese by concentrating on the similarities and differences between the two languages. A.M. Lima. Spring.


20100/30100-20200/30200. Intermediate/Advanced Portuguese. Must be taken for a quality grade. In this intermediate/advanced-level sequence, students review and extend their knowledge of all basic patterns (e.g., grammar, vocabulary, phonetics, sociocultural norms) of the language. They develop their oral and written skills in describing, narrating, and presenting arguments. They are exposed to texts and audio-visual material that provide them with a deeper understanding of Portuguese literature, culture, and contemporary society. Autumn, Winter.

Literature and Culture


21500/31500. Estilística da língua portuguesa. PQ: PORT 20200/30200 or consent of instructor. This course is specifically designed to help students develop their skills in understanding, summarizing, and producing written and spoken arguments in Portuguese through readings and debates on various issues of relevance in contemporary Luso-Brazilian societies. Special consideration is given to the major differences between continental and Brazilian Portuguese. In addition to reading, analyzing, and commenting on advanced texts (both literary and nonliterary), students practice and extend their writing skills in a series of compositions. A.M. Lima. Spring.


21700. Proust on Interpretation (SCTH 30630) In this seminar we will read the two final episodes of Proust's masterpiece, sometimes known in English as The Fugitive and Finding Time Again. Topics to be discussed include certainty, evidence, error and intention. My contention will be not that Proust's novel is a fictional illustration of such "philosophical" topics but rather that Proust's novel is straight, unmediated, philosophy, and indeed describes most of what we need to know about those issues. M. Tamen. Spring.


22001. The "Western Tertúlia:" The Portuguese Generation of the 1870s or Iberia at a Crossroads. In the last three decades of the 19th-Century Portugal produced a remarkable generation of intellectuals, who, through the discourses of literature, philosophy, history and political science, not only reassessed Portugal's legacy and place in the world--and in Iberia in particular, but also set the stage for major events that characterized the 20th-Century, such as African colonialism, dictatorship and generalized social unrest. We will pay particular attention to the impact of this generation in post-1898 Spain, as well as to the cultural conflict that it produced, between an European and an Atlantic identity, which ultimately would only subside with Portugal's entrance in the European Union in 1986. Readings in Portuguese, English and Spanish. P. Pereira. Spring.


23100. Camões and The Lusiads. The course will focus on The Lusiads, the major epic poem by Luís de Camões (1524-1580), first published in 1572. We will read the whole poem as well as ask ourselves a few general questions about the possibility and disappearance of epic poetry. All materials will be available in translation. A few passages will be read in different translations. No knowledge of Portuguese or previous acquaintance with Camões's poetry are required. M. Tamen. Spring.


23002. Allegories of the Political in Contemporary Post-Colonial Fiction from Portugal, Brazil and Angola. In this course we will focus on how political claims, concerns and aspirations, in a broad sense of the word 'political' to be addressed in class, are represented and transformed in literature, through an examination of fiction works as well as critical texts published in Portugal, Brazil and Angola in the last ten years. Readings in Portuguese and English. P. Pereira. Autumn.


29700. Readings in Special Topics. PQ: PORT 10300 or 20200/30200, depending upon the requirements of the program for which credit is sought. Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form. Directed readings in special topics not covered by courses offered as part of the program in Portuguese. Subjects treated and work to be completed for the course must be chosen in consultation with the instructor no later than the end of the preceding quarter. Autumn, Winter, Spring.


29900. B.A. Paper Preparation: Portuguese. This is a study of problems and methods of research, concentrating on a literary topic of the student's choice, as preparation for the B.A. paper. Individual tutorial sessions arranged. Winter.