Cláudia Pazos Alonso

Cláudia teaches a wide range of literature written in Portuguese from the nineteenth century to the present day, as well as translation classes. Her research interests centre on women's writing, gender representations in the public sphere, and the role of literature in the formation of national and postcolonial identities. She is one of the editors of the series Reconfiguring Identities in the Portuguese-speaking world for Peter Lang.

Cláudia is perhaps best known to undergraduates for her involvement in the textbook A companion to Portuguese literature (2009) and its sister volume, Reading literature in Portuguese (2013). The latter showcases short extracts in Portuguese, side by side with their English translation. Each piece is followed by an accessible commentary that shed light on context and style.

Cláudia’s first monograph concentrated on the poetry of Florbela Espanca. A contemporary of the phenomenon of Fernando Pessoa, her voice was often overlooked both in her lifetime and during Salazar’s dictatorship. A bilingual anthology of Espanca’s powerful poetry is forthcoming in 2022. Listen to Cláudia talking about Pessoa here.

Her second book, co-written with Hilary Owen, provides an overview of Portuguese women's writing across the twentieth century, and includes chapters on two major living writers, Lídia Jorge and Hélia Correia. Both have been guest speakers at the University of Oxford in recent years.

Cláudia’s third monograph stretches back in time to the nineteenth century in order to uncover the fascinating story of the bilingual Francisca Wood, a prominent journalist who fought for women’s rights before the word feminism was in common usage. Find a short interview about this book here.

Her current project broadens her nineteenth-century expertise by looking at the Black Atlantic. It will bring into conversation key literary works -- from Brazil, the Cape Verde islands and Portugal -- in order to explore how the literature of the period deals with the trauma of slavery.

Cláudia is always happy to hear from prospective applicants interested in embarking on the study of Portuguese at Wadham.

Email Cláudia

Department Page

Francisca Wood and Nineteenth-Century Periodical Culture: Pressing for Change (Oxford: Legenda, 2020)

De Oriente a Ocidente: Estudos da Associação Internacional de Lusitanistas, 5 vols (Coimbra, Angelus Novus, edited by Claudia Pazos Alonso, Vincenzo Russo, Roberto Vecchi, and Carlos Ascenso André, 2019) https://lusitanistasail.press/index.php/ailpress/catalog

Portuguese Studies 35. 2 (2019) issue on Transnational Women Writers, with Maria Luisa Coelho

Reading Literature in Portuguese, edited by Cláudia Pazos Alonso and Stephen Parkinson (Oxford: Legenda, 2013)

P.Portuguese Cultural Studies issue devoted to António Pedro, edited by Cláudia Pazos Alonso and Bruno Rodrigues Silva, 5, (2013)

Antigone’s Daughters? Gender, Genealogy, and the Politics of Authorship in 20th-Century Portuguese Women's Writing, with Hilary Owen, Bucknell Press, 2011

A Companion to Portuguese Literature, with Stephen Parkinson and T. F. Earle (Woodbridge: Tamesis, 2009

Bulletin of Hispanic Studies, special volume devoted to Mia Couto, edited by Cláudia Pazos Alonso and Phillip Rothwell, (2007)

Closer to the Wild Heart. Essays on Clarice Lispector, edited by Cláudia Pazos Alonso and Claire Williams, (Oxford, Legenda: 2002)

Guest Editor, Portuguese Literary and Cultural Studies, 2 (1999), special issue devoted to Lídia Jorge.

Imagens do Eu na Poesia de Florbela Espanca, (Lisbon: Imprensa Nacional- Casa da Moeda, 1997)

Women, Literature and Culture in the Portuguese-Speaking World, edited by Cláudia Pazos Alonso (Lampeter: Edwin Mellen Press, 1996)

Annotated Book Editions

Anticlericalismo e Feminismo na Imprensa Oitocentista: os artigos de fundo de Francisca de Assis Martins Wood, (Porto, Afrontamento/ILCML, 2021)

Judith Teixeira, Obras de Judith Teixeira. Poesia e Prosa, (Lisbon: Dom Quixote, 2015)

Florbela Espanca,  Obras Completas de Florbela Espanca, 4 volumes (Lisbon: Estampa, 2012-2015)