Homem de Palavra, Homem de Letras: Literatura e responsabilidade na obra de Jose Lins do Rego

Abstract

This essay discusses some of the dilemmas and contradictions encountered by Jose Lins do Rego at the moment when he begins to articulate issues related to the role of literature and the responsibility of the writer in Brazil. I first discuss some of newspaper articles, later published in volumes of essays; I then undertake a close reading of 1934 novel Bangue. At the same time that Rego recognizes a distance that separates him from the so-called Brazilian reality that he seeks to represent, all of works seem to be an attempt to bridge such a distance. On the one hand he romanticizes popular culture and orality as the highest source for (elite) writing; on the other hand, the object of fiction seems to be, above all, the writer's own dilemmas and guilty conscience, or rather, a certain sense of indebtedness toward his people. Nos, os homens donos da palavra, temos tido medo de tudo, ate de nossas proprias sombras. Jose Lins do Rego, Conferencias no Prata 10