Utopias of otherness : nationhood and subjectivity in Portugal and Brazil / Fernando Arenas.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Arenas, Fernando, 1963-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Identity (Psychology).

Portuguese fiction--20th century--Criticism and interpretation.

Portuguese fiction.

Brazilian fiction--20th century--Criticism and interpretation.

Brazilian fiction.

Criticism and interpretation.

Utopias in literature.

Literature and myth.

Difference (Psychology) in literature.

Civilization.

Portugal--Civilization--21st century.

Portugal.

Brazil--Civilization--21st century.

Brazil.

Physical Description:

xxxii, 179 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, [2003]

Summary:

The closely entwined histories of Portugal and Brazil remain key references for understanding developments -- past and present -- in either country. Accordingly, Fornando Arenas considers Portugal and Brazil in relation to one another in this exploration of changing definitions of nationhood subjectivity, and utopias in both cultures. Examining the two nations shared language and histories as well as their cultural social, and political points of divergence. Arenas pursues these definitive changes through the realms of literature intellectual thought, popular culture and political discourse. Both Brazil and Portugal are subject to the economic political, and cultural forces of postmodern globalization. Arenas analyzes responses to these trends in contemporary writers including Jose Saramago, Caio Fernando Abreu, Maria Isabel Barreno, Vergilio Ferreira, Clarice Lispector, and Maria Gabricla Llansol, Ultimately, Utopias of Otherness shows how these writers have redefined the concept of nationhood not only through their investment in utopian or emancipatory causes such as Marxist revolution, women's liberation or sexual revolution, but also by shifting their attention to alternative modes of conceiving the ethical and political realms.

Contents:

Portugal : ideas of empire and nationhood

Brazilian national identity : intellectual debates and changing cultural realities

Subjectivities and homoerotic desire in contemporary Brazilian fiction : the nation of Caio Fernando Abreu

Women's difference in contemporary Portuguese fiction : the case of Maria Isabel Barreno

Worlds in transition and utopias of otherness.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 131-173) and index.

ISBN:

0816638160

0816638179

OCLC:

50598287