What is Contemporary in Brazilian Literature?

In 2001, writer Nelson de Oliveira published the anthology Geração 90: Manuscritos de computador (Boitempo). The volume brought together short stories from Brazilian writers who made their editorial debut at the end of the twentieth century, such as Cíntia Moscovich, Fernando Bonassi and Marcelino Freire. Two years later, Oliveira released Geração 90: Os transgressores (Boitempo). As the title suggests, this collection, also dedicated to writers who began their careers in the 1990s, focused on transgression, principally formal transgression. Among the authors included in the second book were some repeat appearances (Marcelino Freire, Altair Martins, Marcelo Mirisola) but also several fresh names such as Joca Reiners Terron, Simone Campos and Ivana Arruda Leite. Both anthologies provided a venue of expression for new authors. Additionally, the two anthologies did, in a way, open the country’s literary market to a plethora of new writers who have subsequently attained varying degrees of success. Since the turn of the millennium, many well-known publishing houses have added writings by up-and-coming authors to their offerings. In many cases, specific collections are organized around and dedicated to present-day Brazilian fiction, for example Companhia das Letras’ “Amores expressos” project.

Several of the writers that became known in the late 1990s and early 2000s, such as Luiz Ruffato and Marcelo Mirisola, are now well established figures in the country’s lettered circles. Moreover, promoted by the growing interest in novel literary voices on behalf of the publishing industry, new writers are emerging every year. Prestigious literary prizes such as the Jabuti that in 2010 completed its 52nd year, and more recent but no less prominent awards such as the Portugal Telecom, which completed its eighth anniversary last year, serve to consecrate these aspiring scribes. In addition, an array of literary festivals that focus on contemporary writings (Flip, Fórum das Letras, Fliporto, Balada literária, among others) have materialized in several Brazilian cities. These festivals celebrate not only the belles lettres, but are also destinations for cultural tourists who enjoy hobnobbing with the famous and the not-so-famous literary luminaries. Brazil’s lettered scene, through a combination of creativity and marketing is, in sum, “happening.”

The country’s present-day rich literary output has begun to spawn cultural criticism that broaches this production. Nonetheless, there still is a relative lack of book-length studies that approach the subject matter in a – the topic permitting – panoramic mode. Though there are a number of articles that deal with individual texts, and some works that propose comparative studies between two or more authors, or even two national productions (see for example Lúcia Sá’s Life in the Megalópolis 2007), not many monographs provide the interested scholar with a survey of Brazil’s recent literary stirrings. Some exceptions are Tânia Pellegrini’s A imagem e a letra: Aspectos da literatura brasileira contemporânea (FAPESP 1999), Flávio Carneiro’s No país do presente: Ficção brasileira no início do século XXI (Rocco 2005), Giovanna Dealtry’s et. al. Alguma prosa: Ensaios sobre literatura brasileira contemporânea (7Letras 2007), Angela Dias’ Cruéis paisagens: Literatura brasileira e cultura contemporânea (EdUFF 2007), and Helena Bonito C. Pereira’s critical anthology Ficção brasileira no século XXI (Editora Mackenzie 2009). Most of these studies dedicate chapters or segments to an author (Carneiro), or a specific text (Dealtry, et al and Bonito). In the vein of the aforementioned texts, two recent books broaching contemporary Brazilian literature provide the interested reader with a welcomed (and much needed) introduction to some of the emerging as well as already established authors and texts that are leaving their imprint (pun intended) on the nation’s literary scene.

Beatriz Resende’s Contemporâneos. Expressões da literatura brasileira no século XXI (2008) and Karl Erik Schøllhammer’s Ficção brasileira contempor...