O Pre-modernism represents, in Brazilian literature, a transition period, since, on the one hand, the artistic trends of realism, naturalism, symbolism and parnassianism, movements started in the second half of the 19th century, and, on the other hand, there were already writers and artists who presented in their works the signs of what would result in the 1922 Modern Art Week.
Read too: Machado de Assis – main Brazilian author of realist aesthetics
Characteristics of Brazilian pre-modernism
The authors of Brazilian pre-modernism, despite presenting, in their novels, characteristic features of rrealism and of naturalism and, in his poems, elements of symbolism, two aspects stood out as typical marks of the movement in question: the approach to Brazilian reality and the use of language.
Approach to the Brazilian reality: writers of pre-modernism were concerned with matters related to the daily lives of Brazilians, that is, they were interested in the daily lives of the population, which resulted in works of a social nature. It should be noted that in realism and
nonaturalism its authors were also interested in reality, but what was desired in the 19th century was related to the universal reality intimately linked to man, that is, to the reality inherent in every human being.The use of language: pre-modernist authors sought to construct a simple and colloquial language, which will be the main aesthetic flag of 1922 modernism. Of the pre-modernist authors, Lima Barreto (1881-1922) stood out the most in this attempt to write works in an accessible language, close to current orality in the country. This attempt by the author of Sad end of Policarpo Lent (1915) of writing in a simple language, often alien to the norms of standard Portuguese, resulted in criticism during the period in which he wrote, mainly from intellectuals and authors Parnassians.
Authors of pre-modernism
Euclides da Cunha (1866-1909)
Born in Rio de Janeiro, this author became famous for the publication, in 1902, of the constructions the backlands, a book in which he narrates the experiences he had in the Straw War, which took place in the interior of Bahia between 1896 and 1897, where he served as correspondent for the newspaper The State of S. Paul.
In the backlands, the author, based on scientific theories in force at the time, such as the determinism, O positivism, in addition to his knowledge of sociology and geography, he sought not only to describe what he saw in war Canudos but also explain, with the help of these areas of knowledge, what was happening in the interior Bahia.
In this work, expressing strong concern for the social side of everyday life of the common man, one of the main characteristics of pre-modernism, Euclides da Cunha analyzes the War of Straws as a fact arising from the political and economic isolation experienced by the northeastern hinterland. The author, therefore, disputes the official version, according to which the residents of Canudos had the intention of destroying the Republic.
Note an excerpt from the backlands in which the author's concern with the human dimension is noted:
“The countryman is, above all, a fort. It does not have the exhausting rickets of the neurasthenic mestizos of the coast.
His appearance, however, at first glance, reveals otherwise. It lacks the impeccable plasticity, the performance, the very correct structure of athletic organizations.
It's clumsy, clumsy, crooked. Hercules-Quasimodo, reflects in appearance the typical ugliness of the weak. The walk without firmness, without aplomb, almost gigantic and sinuous, appears to be the translation of disarticulated limbs.”
To learn more about this important author of Brazilian pre-modernism, read: Euclid da Cunha.
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Lima Barreto (1881-1922)
Born in Rio de Janeiro, Lima Barreto, writer of humble origin and descendant of black slaveszdear, he is considered one of the main Brazilian pre-modernist authors. Author of a vast work, consisting of Tales, chronicles and novels, did not have his name approved for admission to the Brazilian Academy of Letters. His main work, the novel Sad end of Policarpo Lent, published in 1915, as well as other works by the author, expresses the fundamental characteristics of pre-modernism, such as the use of a more popular languager is the representation of plots centered on the daily lives of common men.
Thus, in the works of Lima Barreto, a critical look is observed in relation to the Brazilian reality. In Sad end of Policarpo Lent, for example, one observes the narration around the life of Policarpo Quaresma, a extremely nationalistic civil servant who sees his dreams frustrated. Its sad end, when the protagonist is murdered at the behest of Floriano Peixoto, expresses Lima Barreto's critical view of those who exercise economic and political power.
Note an excerpt from this work, when the protagonist is imprisoned by the dictatorial government of the time, which characterizes the use of simple language, without formal refinements, close to colloquiality, and the critical content, marked by the pessimism of a character who succumbs at the hands of the government that before, patriotically, will support:
“I would die, who knows if that night? And what had he done with his life? Nothing. He had taken all of it behind the mirage of studying the country, for loving and desiring it so much, in order to contribute to her happiness and prosperity. He had spent his youth on it, his manhood too; and now that he was in old age, how did she reward him, how did she reward him, how did she decorate him? Killing him. And what had he not failed to see, to enjoy, to enjoy, in his life? Everything. He didn't play, he didn't play, he didn't love—all that side of existence that seems to escape his necessary sadness a little, he didn't see, he didn't taste, he didn't experience. "
If you want to learn more details about the life and work of this author, visit our text: Lima Barreto.
Monteiro Lobato (1882-1948)
São Paulo in the city of Taubaté, Monteiro Lobato is considered one of the most important Brazilian writers, especially with regard to children's youth literature. Despite the great prominence coming from its literature written for children, especially with the publication of the sequence of books of Yellow Woodpecker Site, the author was also marked in the history of Brazilian literature by the publication of works with strong regional content, like the storybook dead cities,published in 1919.
In this work, Monteiro Lobato presents a series of short stories in which the plots unfold in the Paraíba Valley, São Paulo region between São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. In this countryside setting, the author reflects on the decadence of country life, with the culmination of this reflection being the tale “Urupês”, starring the famous character Jeca Tatu, who was seen by many critics as a caricature symbol created by the author to ridicule the man of the field. However, Monteiro Lobato criticized not the character itself, but the context that placed him in such misery.
Always very controversial, he called the attention of the world of letters and arts for his positionamentconservative, in an opinion article entitled “Paranoia or mystification”, published in 1917 in the newspaper The State of S. Paul. In this article, he presents a critique of the exhibition by modernist artist Anita Malfatti, one of the main figures of the Week of Modern Art in 1922. According to Lobato, the creation of this important modernist painter would be the result of a “mental deformation”.
Critic of certain behaviors he perceived in artists and in the Brazilian population in the first decades of the 20th century, such as obedience to foreign models and fanatical nationalism, Monteiro Lobato did not intend to aesthetically innovate his literature, much less deepen the psychological dimensions of his characters, but rather sought to of all, being a captivating storyteller, which took place preferably in the interior of the country, using, for this, a language simple. He reads the excerpt from the short story “Urupês”, in which Jeca Tatu is presented:
“Poor Jeca Armadillo! How beautiful you are in romance and ugly in reality!
Jeca Merchant, Jeca Farmer, Jeca Philosopher…
When he attends the fairs, everyone soon guesses what he brings: always things that nature spills through the forest and to man only it costs the gesture of stretching out your hand and harvesting — tucum or jissara coconuts, guabirobas, bacuparis, passion fruit, jataís, pine nuts, orchids; […]
His great care is to wring out all the consequences of the law of least effort—and in this he goes far.
It starts at the address. His house made of thatch and mud makes the animals that live in the burrow smile and laugh to the joão-de-barro. Pure bushman's mouth. No furniture. The bed is a narrow periphery placed on an unpaved floor.”
Augusto dos Anjos (1884-1914)
Born in Paraíba, Augusto dos Anjos he is one of the main poets of Brazilian literature. His poetry has the peculiarity of presenting typical features of simbolism and of naturalistic scientism, innovation that makes him situated as a pre-modernist poet.
He wrote only one work, the book of poems Me, published in 1912. You poems that constitute this book have as main characteristic the use of a language taken as antilyrical, marked by expressions such as “sputum”, “worm”, “larva” etc. At the thematic level, it is observed the occurrence of issues related to death, cadaveric decomposition, human body excrement (pus, semen, etc.), which results in a constant pessimism scenario, in which the lyrical self sees itself anxious, anguished, devoid of dreams and hope. His most famous poem is entitled "Intimate Verses". In it, you can see the main characteristics of Augusto dos Anjos' writing, read it:
intimate verses
See?! Nobody watched the formidable
Burial of your last chimera.
Only Ungrateful — this panther
It was an inseparable companion!
Get used to the mud that awaits you!
Man, who, in this miserable land,
Lives, among beasts, feels inevitable
Need to be a beast too.
Take a match. Light your cigarette!
The kiss, friend, is the eve of the sputum.
The hand that caresses is the same hand that stones.
Grace Spider (1868-1931)
Born in São Luís, Maranhão, grace spider debuted in literature with the romance Canaan, published in 1902. He is situated as a pre-modernist writer, because in this work he expresses tendencies naturalists and symbolists, which, together, resulted in a unique literature, which pointed to evidence of what would come to be problematized with more emphasis in the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century: the race issue.
In Canaan, the plot revolves around two German immigrants in the state of Espírito Santo. One of these characters, named Milkau, takes a stance in favor of miscegenation between the Germans and other peoples, while the other character, called Lentz, is opposed to this process, which, in his view, would result in the weakening of the Aryan race. Note an excerpt from this work in which the two protagonists debate the racial issue:
“—Races are civilized by fusion; it is in the encounter of the advanced races with the virgin, savage races that there is conservative rest, the miracle of civilization's rejuvenation.
— It will always be an inferior culture, a civilization of mulattoes, eternal slaves in revolts and downfalls. Until the race that is the product of such fusion is eliminated, civilization will always be a mysterious artifice, every minute destroyed by the sensualism, bestiality and servility of black people.”
See too:Anguish: novel written by Graciliano Ramos
Premodernism in Europe
In Europe, in the first decades of the 20th century, artistic trends emerged, considered avant-garde, that is, the novelty they presented made them avant-garde. Of French origin, avant-garde, the word vanguard means “the one who marches ahead”.
futurism
With the publication of the Manifest futurist, in 1909, and the publication of the Manifest ttechnician of thereiterature futurist, in 1912, by Marinetti, laid the foundations of the European vanguards, by proposing a revolution in the arts and literature.
The main guidelines, in relation to literature, were: use of free verse, non-use of punctuation, abolition of adjectives and adverbs, erasure of the lyrical self centered on a psychological “I” (prioritizing objectivity over subjectivity).
The main supporters of some futuristic techniques were, in Portugal, the poet Fernando Pessoa; in the United States, the poet Walt Whitman; in Brazil, the poet Oswald de Andrade.To get to know this European vanguard better, read the text: Futourism.
Cubism
Started in France in 1907, the Cubist movement had as its main representatives the Spanish painter Pablo Picasso and the French poet Apollinaire.
At painting, the artists of this movement cultivated the representation of goals by use of geometric figures and right angles. They also spread the collage technique, which consists of creating images through others, cut from newspapers, magazines, advertisements.
At literature, the poets composed their poems through the exploration of the graphic space of the book, arranging verses and stanzas in order to build images. Regarding the content level, Cubist poems expressed a mixture of subjects, overlapping times and spaces, which resulted in the fragmentation of thought reflected in the poetic texts. To learn more about this European vanguard, visit: Çubism.
![Pablo Picasso, the main artist of Cubism, is the author of “Guernica”, a work that refers to the Spanish Civil War. [1]](/f/0f2099f56f27301b1bd21c43b2d58c07.jpg)
Expressionism
Called expressionists in Germany and Fauves in France, expressionist artists valued expression of the artist's subjectivity, that is, of its interior world, so that the work of art would have to be the direct reflection of the interiority of its composer. Thus, he was opposed to Impressionism, a movement that valued the opposite of what Expressionism proposed, since the Impressionist artists believed that artistic creation guesses from a process in which the exterior affected the interior of the artist.
On the literary plane, expressionism prioritized the use of a fragmented language, the absence of a subject in the syntactic period, the use of free verse, the criticism of bourgeois values, such as consumerism and social indifference. Learn more about this cutting edge by visiting: ANDxpressionism.
Dadaism
The movement dadaist, emerged during the First World War, had as its leader the artist Tristan Tzara and as its diffusion center the city of Zurich, Switzerland, due to the fact that this European country remained neutral during the war. The works of art of this movement characterized by irreverence, lack of logic, aggressiveness. Thus, often, gathered at the Cabaret Voltaire, a cultural space in Zurich, these artists made declamations and performances permeated by shouts, profanity, and comics. The purpose of this aesthetic was to express the decay of humanity faced with the horrors of war and the impotence of traditional art.
In the plastic arts, the artist Marcel Duchamp stands out. In literature, the poet Ludwing Kassak stands out, responsible for the construction of phonetic poems, in which the graphic reproduction of various sounds predominates. Another representative poet was André Breton, who later became the founder of surrealism.
![“Porcelain Urinal”, by Marcel Duchamp, one of the most famous Dada artists.[2]](/f/779bbd24e0562bf9bdf2125a754c6157.jpg)
Surrealism
Started in France, after the publication of Manifest of surrealism, released in 1924, by André Breton, the movement surrealist aimed to unite art and psychoanalysis, mainly having the dream as an imaginary source for artistic creation. In this sense, it is important to remember that studies of Sigmund Freud, father of psychoanalysis, were widespread at that time.
He also valued the artistic automatism, which consisted in reproducing on the canvas everything that came to the artist's mind, without a filter, what mattered was the expression of the subconscious without any rational control. In this way, illogism, daydreaming, hypnosis, etc., became common.
In literature, the founder of the movement, André Breton, Louis Aragon and Antonin Artaud stood out. In the plastic arts, the highlights were the Spanish artist Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró and Max Ernst. Surrealism also manifested itself in cinema, with the Spanish Luis Buñuel being the main filmmaker in this field.
![Sculpture by Salvador Dalí, located in front of the Church of San Francisco de Assis, in Matera, Italy.[3]](/f/781e8687e1292b35ca33bc1e6c15329d.jpg)
solved exercises
Question 1 - (UFV). In relation to Brazilian pre-modernist writers, it is CORRECT to state that:
a) Euclides da Cunha, in You sertons, reports that the War of the Peddlers was not a conflict between monarchists and republicans, as the intellectual elite believed. What he witnessed was a set of contradictions, dementias and cruelties, typical of a civil war.
b) Monteiro Lobato, in the stories of Yellow Woodpecker Site, he mixed reality and fantasy and knew how to value the Brazilian universe by creating children's stories marked by the presence of adult moralism.
c) Lima Barreto shows himself to be a continuator of the rhetoric and style of Parnassianism, due to the fact that he writes narratives marked by lexical simplicity and an attempt to bring literature and language closer together colloquial.
d) Augusto dos Anjos stands out for the creation of a disturbing poetry for thematizing the obsession with death in his more shocking aspects: decaying corpses, greedy worms for bodies and the lack of meaning for existence human.
Resolution
Alternative D. In You sertons, Euclides da Cunha tells the story of the Canudos War. Monteiro Lobato's children's narratives, unlike those marked by an adult moralism, present the figure of a questioning child interested in new discoveries. Precisely for writing narratives characterized by simplicity in language and appropriation of the colloquial, Lima Barreto distances himself from Parnassianism.
Question 2 - (UFMT). Literature practiced in Brazil at the beginning of the 20th century, in general, had its eyes closed to the most serious problems of Brazilian society. However, with works that represent another intellectual posture in the face of our sociocultural reality, some writers expressed a critical view of Brazilian problems. Regarding the leading writers of premodernism, mark the correct statement.
a) Euclides da Cunha, even masterfully working the subject and language in You sertons, he failed to build a literary work, as its content is not fictional.
b) Lima Barreto, accused of negligence by his contemporaries, had his simple and communicative prose valued by the modernists.
c) Monteiro Lobato, due to his classical training, was an important intellectual mentor of the renovating movement of 22.
d) Euclides da Cunha, in You sertons, revealed the suffering of a family of migrants fleeing the northeastern drought.
e) Lima Barreto, influenced by the reading of Portuguese language classics, marked his literary production with a certain linguistic purism.
Resolution
Alternative B, since the objective and informal language with which Lima Barreto describes the details of life everyday life of the underprivileged classes of Rio de Janeiro is seen with bad eyes by their contemporaries; however, this aspect is valued by the modernists, who excelled in valuing language colloquialism and the representation of a more Brazilian reality in literature, both in content and in form.
Question 3 - (Enem) "Every morning when I wake up, I experience a supreme pleasure: that of being Salvador Dalí." NÉRET, G. Salvador Dali.Taschen, 1996.
So wrote the painter of “soft clocks” and “flaming giraffes” in 1931. This eccentric artist supported General Franco during the Spanish Civil War and for that reason was turned away from the surrealist movement by its leader, André Breton. In this way, Dalí created his own style, based on the interpretation of dreams and on the studies of Sigmund Freud, called “paranoid interpretation method”. This method consisted of visual texts that demonstrate images
a) the fantastic, imbued with civility by the Spanish government, in which the search for emotion and drama developed an incomparable style.
b) the oneiric, which mixed dreams with reality and the unconscious as a unique or personal universe.
c) the inflexible line of reason, giving rise to a form of production stripped of its lines, themes and forms linked to reality.
d) the reflection, which, despite the term "paranoid", has sobriety and elegance resulting from a technique of discreet colors and precise drawings.
e) the expression and intensity between the conscious and freedom, declaring the love for the way of conducting the historical plot of the portrayed characters.
Resolution
Alternative B.Salvador Dalí created his works based on the interaction between the dream (the dream) and reality. Thus, we can say that there is a fusion of the conscious with the unconscious, object of studies by Sigmund Freud.
Image credits
[1] tichr / Shutterstock
[2] emka74 / Shutterstock
[3] Cezary Wojtkowski / Shutterstock
By Leandro Guimarães
Literature teacher
