"The Reasons of Indianism”: in the critical views of Romero, Sodré and Coutinho

Abstract

These article adresses the theme of Indianism, as one of the characteristic features of Romanticism in Brazil, based on the historiographic views of Sílvio Romero, Nelson Werneck Sodré and Afrãnio Coutinho. It highlights the place of Gonçalves Dias and José de Alencar as the most representative names of the romantic movement. Methodologically, the text covered the works of those critics, about the history of literature in Brazil, particularly the sections referring to Romanticism. From the theoretical perspective assumed by each of the critics, the article underlines: i) in Romero, the understanding of Indianism as an expression of our mestizo racial formation; ii) in Sodré, the Marxist perspective that gives class relations as the reason for Indianism; iii) in Coutinho, the assertion of Indianism based on aesthetic factors, not extrinsic to the literary text. The final considerations also bring some notes on romantic Indianism mined in Antonio Candido, Roberto Schwarz and Alfredo Bosi.