Guimarães Rosa and Brazilian Literary Regionalism: a Critical Review

Abstract

This essay focuses on the critical reception of Guimarães Rosa’s work, from 1946 to the beginning of the 21st century, and analyzes the arguments employed to deal with the presence of the region in the author’s literary work. Since Sagarana’s publication, critical discourse has expressed a troubled relationship with the features usually associated with Regionalism, whether by recognizing or denying its presence in Guimarães Rosa’s fiction. Instead of encouraging new critical perceptions pertaining literature written in association with regional spaces, Guimarães Rosa’s work seems to have contributed, unwillingly, to consolidate building blocks that deny the regional a literary status. Throughout the essay, the term Regionalism is spelled with its first letter capitalized, as it is considered an indicator of a literary strand.