Brazilian literary system

from the nation project to the “edges” that constituted it

Abstract

The text presented here addresses theoretical issues relating to Brazilian literature and explores, in an enlightening manner, widely discussed subjects that are not entirely clear to a wide range of readers and scholars of Brazilian literature. The topics covered deal with the concept of literary system; discussions about the formative period of Brazilian literature; the nation project outlined in literature during Romanticism, Realism, Naturalism, Pre-modernism and Modernism; and, finally, addresses the issue regarding the dialectical character of literary construction when it uses opposing or “edged” sides to produce new artistic and social syntheses. The three topics around which the study was organized can be read independently with benefit, although the complete reading of the text will provide a more comprehensive view that will contribute to a better understanding of Brazilian literature, through the use of extra-literary analyses. Theoretical writings of authors such as Gonçalves de Magalhães and Machado de Assis are used as base texts, who in their time, in addition to literary works, also acted as critics and scholars of their time and help us to have a synchronic vision of the Brazilian literary phenomenon and, also, whenever possible, literary references were used to help understand the theoretical discussions.