The fading of the Intimate Novels of the 1930s: between the self uselessness and political ideology

Abstract

The present article aims to discuss the intimate novel produced by the authors who integrated the so-called 1930s Generation of Brazilian Modernism. In this perspective, it is worth noticing that a significant number of works of a different nature, from those that were elevated to the canon as the most relevant of this generation, have been systematically ignored by the instances that validate literature, being absent from textbooks or appearing very rarely as an object of study in Literature courses. The political polarization established at the time was largely responsible for the value judgment that usually associates intimate prose with right-wing writers, while the regionalists, conceiving fiction rooted in the social atmosphere, were linked to left-wing currents of thought. The connection with a certain political orientation was enough to judge authors and works, being evident in the observations of Lafetá (2000), which uses political criteria to undervalue the production when shedding light on the aesthetic and ideological project in Modernism. Therefore, the article focuses on unveiling part of this production, showing its reception at the time and how it has been intentionally sidelined over the years. The theoretical base to which we resort is Bueno (2006), Coutinho (2004) and Portella (1971).