PRT 3930 (3490) LAS 4935 (1838) JORGE AMADO AND BAHIAN IMAGINARIES Spring 2008
Class meetings: Tuesdays 5^th- 6^th periods; Thursday 6^th period in LIT 233 (Little Hall)
Prof. Charles A. Perrone; Office location: GRI 335; Office Hours: Tues., Thurs. 7th and by appointment
phones: 392 2100 (direct, answering machine); messages: 392 0375, 392 2017
emails: perrone@ufl.edu, cap@rll.ufl.edu; HPs: web.clas.ufl.edu/users/cap; plaza.ufl.edu/perrone

Description: This class will concern customs and expressive cultures of the city of Salvador and of the state of Bahia, Brazil via the fiction of the world-renowned author Jorge Amado (1912-2001) as well as through the contributions of artists with whom he collaborated over the decades, such as graphic artist CarybÈ and singer-songwriter Dorival Caymmi. The approach is necessarily multi-disciplinary, encompassing cultural geography, cuisine, architecture, religion (candomblÈ, folk Catholicism), dance (capoeira, samba), and folk/popular musics (bards of the interior, traditional samba, samba-reggae and bloco afro, MPB, axÈ music). Beginning with nationalist and regionalist modernism of the 1930s, the class will follow the development of the featured author's fictional universe, and of Bahian identities, through localism, (quasi) socialist realism (both urban and rural scenarios), populism, and the dramas of modernization and diversification. Amado's fiction— and its manifestations in popular culture, film, television, song— have provoked ample debate concerning representation of subalterns, gender roles, exoticism, and image-marketing. Beyond celebrating constructed modes of being (detectable in some official spheres), the Jorge Amado phenomenon involves a complex web of themes and problematics eminently relevant to current concerns about local, national and international imaginaries with intertwined aesthetic and ideological dimensions. NB: The class was invented in conjunction with the Spring '08 Grinter Galleries exhibit of selections of the donation by long-time diplomat and art collector Frances Swett to the Latin American Collection of UF Libraries and museum of art. Literary production and artistic works will be considered in aesthetic, socio-historical and geo-cultural contexts. The primary objective is to appreciate in a general way the internationally acclaimed fiction of Amado. In addition, readings and discussion are meant to open windows onto the life and customs of one of the most culturally rich states in Latin America's largest and only Portuguese-speaking country, as well as to dispel common stereotypes and uncritical images of the land and its people. Constant attention will be paid to the reception and marketing of Latin American literature in translation in North America since the 1940s.

Grading: This is a Gordon Rule course; therefore work and evaluation are mostly based on writing. 80%, nine short papers (2-3 pp., 500-750 words), based on reaction to / analysis of assignments / readings (background sources, novel or novellas, film, speakers) with one/two based on additional reading/s not on the class list; nine assignments will be made and the lowest grade will be dropped. 20%, Class performance, attendance, preparation, reports and participation. Excel in both areas for A, do good in both for B, etc.

Texts: Jorge Amado, "Sea of the Dead" (< Borzoi Anthology of Lat Am Lit); books to acquire: The Violent Land, Gabriela Clove and Cinnamon, Shepherds of the Night, The Two Deaths of Quincas Wateryell, Tent of Miracles ( Knopf or Avon-Bard ); cf. copies on reserve and / or LAC

Recommended: Earl Fitz, Brazilian Narrative Traditions in a Comparative Context; Earl Fitz & Elizabeth Lowe, Translation and the Rise of Inter-American Literature ( acquire, LAC and / or reserve )

Reserve (Smathers): Access ARES to see the full list of e- and hard copy reserve items

Keith H. Brower, Earl E. Fitz, Enrique MartÌnez-Vidal, eds. Jorge Amado: New Critical Essays

Piers Armstrong, Jo„o Guimar„es Rosa, Jorge Amado and the International Reception of Brazilian Culture = Third World Literary Fortunes - Brazilian Culture and its International Reception

Bobby J. Chamberlain, Jorge Amado

Fred P. Ellison, Brazil's New Novel - Four Northeastern Masters

Bryan Mc Cann, Hello Hello Brazil!

Dorival Caymmi, Cancioneiro da Bahia

Music Library reserve:

C. Perrone and C. Dunn, eds. Brazilian Popular Music and Globalization

L. Crook. Brazilian Music: Northeastern Traditions and the Heartbeat of a Modern Nation

C. Perrone. Masters of Contemporary Brazilian Song : MPB, 1965-1985

C. McGowan and R. Pessanha. The Brazilian Sound: Samba, Bossa Nova and the Popular Music of Brazil.

J. Murphy. The Music of Brazil: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture

Pg. 2 Calendar / indicates double class period (100 min.); (per usual: subject to change)

Jan. 8/ Introduction to course, Brazil, Bahia, Salvador, Amado; Slide Show!; web orientation

Jan. 10 Geography, ethnicity, history and expressivity

Jan. 15/ Overview of Amado, 1930s; first works, Jubiab· film clips; Ellison ch. 1, 3

Jan. 17 Fishermen culture; Amado, ≥Sea of the Dead≤ from Borzoi Anthology

Writing assignment 1

Jan. 22/ Cacau, plantations, development, turf wars; Jorge Amado, The Violent Land

Jan. 24 Jorge Amado, The Violent Land (cf. Nov. 2007 New Yorker)

Jan. 29/ Jorge Amado, The Violent Land Folk song and fiction

Jan. 31 Jorge Amado, Dorival Caymmi master songsmith; Guest speaker: Prof. B. McCann, GU

Writing assignment 2

Feb. 5/ Jorge Amado, Gabriela Film clip

Feb. 7 Jorge Amado, Gabriela

Feb. 12/ Jorge Amado, Gabriela Musical interpretations

Feb. 14 Jorge Amado, Gabriela The waning of boss-ism

Writing assignment 3

Feb. 19/ Jorge Amado, Shepherds of the Night preface, I The "sensual" figures

Feb. 21 Jorge Amado, Shepherds of the Night II Grinter Galleries exhibit open

Feb. 22 Featured speaker: Prof. Piers Armstrong, CSULA / UCLA: The social contract question —Afro-centrism, exoticism and authenticity in Jorge Amado's carnivalia. Noon Dauer 219

Writing assignment 4

Feb. 26/ Jorge Amado, Shepherds of the Night III

Feb. 28 Guest speaker: Dr. E. Lowe, UF CLAStudies, gender and translation

Mar 4/ Film Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands Culinary arts

Mar. 6 Film discussion; origins of popular music of Bahia Writing assignment 5

Mar. 8-15 Spring Break

Mar. 18/ Begin Amado, Tent of Miracles Film clips

Mar. 20 Tent of Miracles Grinter Swett reception

Mar. 25/ Tent of Miracles Capoeira VHS

Mar. 27 Interval: Quincas Wateryell Guest speaker, Prof. E. Ginway, UF RLL

Writing assignment 6

April 1/ Tent of Miracles Racialism and ideological change

April 3 Afro-Brazilian culture, religion (VHS)

April 8/ Popular music 1958-1968, Bahia in poetry of song

April 10 Tropic·lia movement, Bahia and/vs. the southern metropolis

Writing assignment 7

April 15/ 1970s 1980s Neo-Afro-Bahian musics

April 17 Jorge Amado and MPB

April 22/ class evaluation; final discussion of themes and writing *Writing assignments 8/9

[April 24 discretionary review day, re-schedule; SFPA launch Miami] *may be turned in earlier

Students are invited to go over final assignments during scheduled time for final exam (group 2B).