https://doi.org/10.67147/literariness.v1i4.027
The Seizure of the Baroque: the Problem of Literariness in the Formation of Brazilian Literature
GABRIEL FELIPE DA SILVA
PhD Candidate in Portuguese Language Literatures (Brazilian Literature)
Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais
University of Coimbra, and Federal Fluminense University
Abstract: This article examines the debate about the origin of Brazilian literature based on the controversy between Antonio Candido and Afrânio Coutinho, taking as its interpretative axis Haroldo de Campos’ essay “The Seizure of the Baroque.” It argues that this divergence transcends literary historiography and constitutes an epistemological dispute about the very concept of literature. To develop this hypothesis, the study draws on the assumptions of Russian Formalism, especially the concepts of literariness and ostranenie (defamiliarization), formulated by Roman Jakobson and Viktor Shklovsky, arguing that the specificity of literature lies in the formal construction of language and its capacity to de-automatize perception. Through a microanalysis of the sonnet “To Jesus Christ” by Gregório de Matos, it demonstrates that Baroque poetry employs complex aesthetic procedures that justify its recognition as literature in the fullest sense, regardless of the existence of a national literary system.
Keywords: Baroque; Literary Theory; Russian Formalism; Gregório de Matos; Brazilian Lit
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