Brazil and the Dialectic of Colonization

by Alfredo Bosi, Robert Patrick Newcomb (Translator)

A classic of Brazilian literary criticism and historiography, Brazil and the Dialectic of Colonization explores the unique character of Brazil from its colonial beginnings to its emergence as a modern nation. This translation presents the thought of Alfredo Bosi, one of contemporary Brazil's leading intellectuals, to an English-speaking audience. Portugal extracted wealth from its Brazilian colony. Slaves--first indigenous peoples, later Africans--mined its ore and cut its sugarcane. From the customs of the colonists and the aspirations of the enslaved rose Brazil. Bosi scrutinizes signal points in the creation of Brazilian culture--the plays and poetry, the sermons of missionaries and Jesuit priests, the Indian novels of José de Alencar and the Voices of Africa of poet Castro Alves. His portrait of the country's response to the pressures of colonial conformity offers a groundbreaking appraisal of Brazilian culture as it emerged from the tensions between imposed colonial control and the African and Amerindian cults--including the Catholic-influenced ones--that resisted it.

392 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Alfredo Bosi é um professor universitário, crítico e historiador de literatura brasileira, e também imortal da Academia Brasileira de Letras.

Reviews

[Lidiana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bosi, forever my favorite Brazilian theorist! I love his style of writing and his analysis... One of my academic idols!

[Mateus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Uma análise simplesmente genial da história do Brasil e do pensamento contemporâneo escrita de modo impecável.
Poucos conseguiriam associar a erudição filosófica à percepção antropológica por um caminho tão caro quanto a crítica de nossos principais autores. Embora produzidos já há algum tempo (os escritos mais recentes são do início da década de oitenta, e a edição conta com um post-scriptum de 1992 e um posfácio redigido em 2001), os ensaios não perdem em qualidade e clarividência.

A meu ver, leitura obrigatória para compreender como a experiência da colonização marca a história de um país e molda o fluxo de seu futuro.