Curricular Unit
Great Books (5.5 ECTS) – 45 hours
Study cycle to which the curricular unit belongs (with academic semester and
scholar year)
BA in Social and Cultural Communication – 1st semester – 2014/2015
Responsible academic staff member and lecturing load in the curricular unit
Maria Alexandra Ambrósio Lopes
Learning outcomes of the curricular unit
The course will explore the vast and diversified corpus of the western literary canon
through a selection of works that continue to influence contemporary life. It aims at
teaching how to read the world in a critical and plural way. As a theoretical-practical
discipline within the framework of subjects that provide additional education in the
B.A. in Social and Cultural Communication it fulfills a general formative role in the
preparation of future professionals who will work in the area of media and cultural
relations providing them with a cultural framework.
The course aims at fostering the critical competence of reading and interpreting
texts, promoting not only interdisciplinary relations and historical, social, political,
literary and cultural contextualization, but also the development of competences in
argumentation and in oral and written expression.
Syllabus
In this semester we focus on five books that changed the way society perceived the
condition of women in the context of patriarchy and the transformation of the
discourses about the body and gender: Gustave Flaubert’s Madam Bovary (1857), Leo
Tolstoi’s Anna Karenina (1877), Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House (1879) and Virginia
Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own (1929). As further readings, allowing debate and
evaluation of the posterities of such questions, the course proposes several essays of
theory and criticism.
Teaching methodologies (including evaluation)
Teaching:
The teaching methodology rests on the articulation of expository moments led by
the teacher and previously scheduled students’ oral interventions.
The program starts with an introduction to the history and theories of feminism and
to the issue of women rights, followed by the analysis of and commentary on
essential works through the examination of the posterity and topicality of themes.
During weekly office hours, students will benefit from an individualized support
given by the teacher in the preparation of their work.
Evaluation:
Evaluation is continuous and attendance is mandatory. Evaluation takes into account
the following aspects:
 Participation: 20%;
 Take-home assignments: 15%
 2 Tests: 25%+40%
Evidence of plagiarism will result in the student’s exclusion from the
evaluation process.
Main bibliography
Primary texts
FLAUBERT, Gustave (1991), Madame Bovary, trad. João Pedro de Andrade, Lisboa:
Relógio d’Água [11857].
TOLSTOI, Lev (2006), Anna Karénina, trad. António Pescada, Lisboa: Relógio d’Água
[11877].
WOOLF, Virginia (2005), Um Quarto Só para Si, trad. Maria de Lurdes Guimarães,
Lisboa: Relógio d’ Água [11929].
A selection of critical readings of the three works will be made available on the
seminar’s site.
Selected secondary reading
BEAUVOIR, Simone de (2008), O Segundo Sexo, trad. Sérgio Milliet, Lisboa: Quetzal
[11948].
BUTLER, Judith (2004), ‘Performative acts and gender constitution: an essay in
phenomenology and feminist theory’, Henry Bial (ed.), The Performance Studies
Reader, Londres/Nova Iorque: Routledge, pp. 154-166.
BUTLER, Judith (1990), Gender Trouble. Feminism and the Subversion of Identity,
Londres/Nova Iorque: Routledge.
GIDDENS, Anthony (1995), Transformações da Intimidade. Sexualidade, Amor e
Erotismo nas Sociedades Modernas, trad. Rosa Maria Perez, Oeiras: Celta.
HANNAM, June (2007), Feminism, Harlow: Pearson.
MACEDO, Ana Gabriela e Ana Luísa Amaral (org.) (2005), Dicionário da Crítica
Feminista, Porto: Afrontamento.
MACEDO, Ana Gabriela (org.) (2002), Género, Identidade e Desejo. Antologia Crítica
do Feminismo Contemporâneo, Lisboa: Livros Cotovia.
Nussbaum, Martha C. (1990), Love’s Knowledge. Essays on Philosophy and Literature,
Oxford e Nova Iorque: Oxford University Press.
SCHOUTEN, Maria Johanna (2011), Uma Sociologia do Género, Famalicão: Húmus.
WALTERS, Margaret (2005), Feminism. A Very Short Introduction, Oxford/Nova
Iorque: Oxford University Press.
WEEKS, Jeffrey (1986), Sexuality, New York: Routledge.