Citizenship and Crisis in Contemporary Brazilian Literature

Considering how literary texts address the transformations that Brazil has undergone since its 1985 transition to democracy, this study proposes that Brazilian contemporary literature is informed by the struggle for social, civil, and cultural rights and that literary production has created spaces for historically disenfranchised communities. Citizenship and Crisis in Contemporary Brazilian Literature considers how recent literary texts address the socio-economic and political transformations that Brazil has undergone since its 1985 transition to democracy. Leila Lehnen proposes that contemporary Brazilian literature is informed by the country's struggle and that literary production has created fictional and material spaces of agency for historically disenfranchised communities. Ultimately, this important study broaches how literature reveals the socio-cultural tactics employed by marginalized subjects and communities in their struggle for full-fledged citizenship Introduction: voices of contestation: obstacles and paths to citizenship in contemporary Brazilian literature -- Luiz Ruffato: landscapes of disrepair and despair in Inferno provisório -- Fridges and suburbs in the new world order: Fernando Bonassi's Spaces of abjection -- Practical handbook of citizenship. Negating/negotiating human rights in São Paulo's periphery -- Cartographies of hope: charting empowerment in Guia afetivo da periferia -- Epilogue Front Matter....Pages i-viii Introduction Voices of Contestation....Pages 1-21 Luiz Ruffato....Pages 23-71 Fridges and Suburbs in the New World Order....Pages 73-120 Practical Handbook of Citizenship....Pages 121-158 Cartographies of Hope....Pages 159-191 Epilogue....Pages 193-198 Back Matter....Pages 199-252