A New History of Brazilian Literature

Abstract

Regina Dalcastagnè's Uma história da literatura brasileira contemporânea: a narrativa offers a mobile reading of Brazilian narrative production from 1970 onward, rejecting the monumental and conclusive tone of traditional historiographies. Organized into four major axes — Spatial, Political, Intimate, and Everyday Journeys — the work traces the formal and thematic transformations of literature in dialogue with social inequalities, the legacy of the dictatorship, urban displacement, and the disputes within the literary field. Throughout its chapters, Dalcastagnè articulates form and history as inseparable dimensions, paying particular attention to historically marginalized voices and the plurality of experiences that shape recent narrative. The book concludes with a sharp reflection on the present condition of literature — publishing markets, algorithms, artificial intelligence, and the challenges of criticism in times of predictability — reaffirming literature as a space of resistance, estrangement, and openness to the unforeseen.