The inventory and update of urban traumas in the Brazilian literature and cultural scene

Abstract

This article examines some tendencies in the way Brazilian contemporary literature focuses urban violence. It examines the esthetic resources employed in those works to analyse the sources and consequences of that problem or to actualize traumatic experiences in literature. Related to these discussions, the work presents different critical views on the efficacy of Sebastião Salgado’s photography to promote the change of social perspectives. A comparative study of some ficctional works of Brazilian writers which presents scenes of infantile seduction and other contusive themes, specially Fernando Bonassi”s romance Subúrbio (2006) and some Marcelino Freire’s short stories, leads to the discussion of this kind of literary production in Brazil. It is also discussed the destination of Marcelino Freire’s texts to performance, beyond its publication in books. Their floating literary gender of his short stories, exploring lyric and dramatic resources, seems related to this use. In the literature of this author as in that of other Brazilian contemporary writers as Marçal Aquino and Ferréz reveals the urgency to respond to the interest of the readers on the spreading of a culture intimately related
to illegality. Manuel Castells observed, in urban societies, since the end of the millennium, the deepening of a cultural crisis due to the disbelief in public institutions and in some other pillars of social order. And that literary production shows the effects of this crisis in different sceneries and through different esthetic resources.