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This content downloaded from 140.254.87.149 on Mon, 10 Aug 2015 19:23:49 UTC
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POSTMODERNISM
AND BRAZILIAN
FICTION
OF THE EIGHTIES
ADOLFO MARIN-MINGUILLON
A new specter is haunting the world: the specter of post
modernism. In the fields of society, philosophy and the arts, a great
is being produced in order to characterize this
deal of polemicizing
The
phenomenon.
prefix
"post",
to the
added
term
"modern",
sug
gests the birth of a new historical period. There must have been,
then, some kind of rupture thatmarks the end of an era (modernity)
and the beginning of the new times (postmodernity). The dis
starts
agreement
that the different
here.
It's about
taken
positions
on the
theoretical
elaborations
important
All
further
considerations
of
the
ernism.
problem
most
issue of postmod
on them
touches
productions
I use
and which
country,
as a cultural
and
social
which,
artistic
Tetraneto
in order
postmodernism
as a working
hypothesis,
to arrive
at general
in the Brazilian
fiction
achievement
del-Rei
[The Great-Great-Great-Grandson
and Em Liberdade
Haroldo Maranh?o
characterization
of highly
the
eighties:
of the King],
by
theorist
of the post
the first
For Jean Baudrillard,
perhaps
an
If
meant
is
well
assumed.
the
modern
rupture
modernity
society,
market
etc.),
economy,
(mechanization,
technology,
"explosion"
is characterized
("de-differen
by an "implosion"
postmodernity
factor
during
that
the
dominates
modernity,
but
social
now
order
is not
"re-production"?reproduction
as
production,
of models
Traditional
obsolete.
Now,
The
Real,
thus,
has
theories of conflict
come
to an end
(Simulations
146).
in an era of hyperconformity,
the masses
"only want
some sign, they idolize any content so long as it resolves itself into a
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Postmodernism
and Brazilian
Fiction
19
of the Eighties
of suspicion").
"hermeneutics
consists
of a proliferation
contrary,
The postmodern
of forms,
signs,
visible,
and
"ob-scene",
the
of
bombarding
transparent,
on
world,
Everything
end
present:
of
what
has been
remains
to play
is
to feel
theorist seems
a critical
not propose
The French
as he does
with
the pieces....That
Nihilism" 38).
In the domain of philosophy
at
of
totally
search
is post-modern"
and knowledge,
("On
another French
a historical
Jean Fran?ois
advocates
that
Lyotard,
rupture
to the "postmodern
the door
condition."
For him,
the great
opens
main
value
of the conscience
of the new epoch would
be the plu
ralistic
of knowledge.
The master
narratives
fragmentation
(grand
r?cits) of the past?e.g.,
Marxism,
etc.,?
Liberalism,
Hegelianism,
thinker,
that have
credibility
and embraces
theory,
the
"language
game"
principle
as an epistemo
based
on paralogy
and dissent,
etc.,
reply/counter-reply,
modernity,
was
invested,
known
in a world
in the post-modern
knowledge,
condition,
around
are nothing
the problem
but
"moves"
in the debate.
than
a mere
game.
In
total
to Lyotard,
opposition
the
social
rationality,
justice,
morality,
etc.,
are
universal
as
an
antimodern
poststructuralism
neoconservatism
(e. g.,
Foucault,
from
the French
stemming
that has succumbed
to
Derrida)
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20
Latin American
the present
times
without
the necessary
criticism
Literary Review
that
the situation
demands (14-15).
The fourth participant in the debate, Fredric Jameson, tries to
delineate a necessary epistemological foundation in order to propose
a totalizing
social
that accounts
for
theory
the concept
of he postmodern
him,
periodizes
which
is characterized
by a new economic
the new
For
times.
the present moment,
order (postindustrial
consumer
mass media
etc.) correlated
capitalism,
society,
society,
new social
with
and cultural
forms
Post
("Postmodernism"
112-3).
comes
to reinforce
modern
culture
"the logic
of consumer
cap
italism"
to modernism:
its own
and possesses
traits with
respect
of boundaries,
dehistorization,
implosion
pastiche,
fragmentation,
etc. As a result, postmodern
art has lost the subversiveness
and the
describe
weak dilettantism
(17).
Britton
rejects
(like postmodernism
Jameson's
as
argument
a much-needed
critical
of capitalism
in order
proposes
analysis
to illuminate
a more
to achieve
For
effective
ways
democracy.1
as it has been used so far, is
the concept
of the postmodern,
Britton,
no more
than "conscious
and charlatanism"
(17).
casuistry
A postmodern
elaborated.
Abstract
Kellner,
Baudrillard's
still remains to be
theory
an
assumes
who
periodize
tries
the present
to most
comprehensively
condition,
although
characterize
and
to the current
transition
from earlier
of capitalism
detailed
stages
late capitalism.
his
of
Furthermore,
application
previous
paradigms
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and Brazilian
Postmodernism
21
of the Eighties
Fiction
a theory
as well
in transition",
and proposes
"of a society
speak
tualizes
the new social
and cultural
conditions
that concep
as the links
Merquior
cipatory
ernism
to reality
correspond
who
the
proposes
or it is an
of a resistant
neomodern
conscience
[51-53]),
of
whose
derivation
great universal
epigonal,
spurious
modernity,
in an
Truth,
Reason?became,
says Merquior
values?Meaning,
obvious
"mere ad hoc functions
attack on Lyotard,
of language
play
formation
tains,
theoretical
con
elaborations
the present
of
aspects
times.
high
functions
technology
as
control
social
can
that
re
as he does
system,
screen
of
not
penetrate
the essence
the
beyond
hidden behind
Jameson
takes
that
up
task,
He
appearances.
the immense
and
social
at the
looks
the emergence
Therefore,
of
the discourse
of
"others"
with
a grand
theory
of contemporary
conditions.
as
media
consumerism,
intensification
And undoubtedly,
will
lead
modulation,
etc.,
that
to a rupture,
or not,
remains
to be seen.
the (post)modern
manipulation,
world.5
It might
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22
Literary Review
Latin American
of an era or just
the end
through
of the system.
What
societies.
the recurrent
of
any
through
But,
obviously,
different
of
manifestations
crises
industrialized
those
tenden
cies can be traced in all countries that integrate the capitalist world.
In
the case
of Brazil,
Wisnik's
paper
about
the presence
of post
modernism
Habermas
and Jameson.
echoes
Baudrillard,
Lyotard,
of Brazil
The present moment
(after the dictatorship,
country
the frus
black
that
"modernity
overcome"
(3).
was
Baudrillard
hole...that
defines
as the end
of
the social" (Wisnik 1). The author of the paper points out ironically
never
but
completed,
it has
already
been
to be
and
confrontation
de Campos
polemics.
of mass
out
the space
carried
through
Schwarz
of Roberto
against
on a Brazilian
reflects,
level,
denounces
Schwarz
complacency
the
culture),
and Haroldo
Augusto
the Habermas/Lyotard
in a post-utopian
present
"P?s-tudo"
poem
Jameson's
terms)
utopian
poetry,
because
it has succumbed
(in
[Post-everything]),
to the "cultural
This post
of
late
logic
capitalism."
to consumerism
for Schwarz,
falls prey
and accepts
an intellectual
level,
as we
see, Brazil
shows
the symptoms
in postindustrial
societies.
the country
is still in a "sub
as a third-world
country
subject
dissimulates
the country's
backwardness
and,
at the same
time,
anything goes,
mere
culture?TV,
invasion
of
music,
film,
video,
a pastiche-parody
etc. There
has
in which
form
Wisnik
commercialism.
Therefore,
as
For
totally spurious.
postmodernism
who
Caetano
Veloso,
participated
singer
to
not consider
popular
and
the song-writer
instance,
in the avant-gardist
expe
does
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and Brazilian
Postmodernism
rich
nuances
of parodie
gamut
Fiction
23
of the Eighties
that
includes
popular
culture
confluence.
the art/commodity
from
through an interplay
etc), modern
carnival,
(Afro-religions,
and
music,
gossip
a discourse
of ap
is transparent,
everything
thought,
sense,
"obscene" and patent (Wisnik 18). This nihilistic, cynical and hardly
side
constructive
of postmodernism
acquires
its most
load
negative
modern
of present
reality.
as it does
now,
in terms of superficial
appearance may
end up hiding a
existence
and
legitimizes
is to resist
however,
it, Wisnik
that
art as mere
to
seems
say (20).
far as aesthetics
As
Calinescu
is concerned,
has
a most
given
in its opposition
"particularly
to the principle
of author
ity" (312), and maintains relations with the other faces of modernity
of unity), kitsch
such as decadence
(eclecticism,
questioning
and
and
(commercial
avant-garde (use of collage and
popular code)
For
Calinescu, postmodernism is not a new reality
montage [312]).
that presupposes
one can
which
a previous
ask certain
rupture.
questions
it is "a perspective
from
Rather,
and its several
about modernity
in this manner,
postmodern
dismissal
characterization
of
art places
itself
far
away
it as
commodified
and
conformist.
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24
Literary Review
Latin American
of models;
of subversion
niques
Ramos?an
and both
author
exhibit
position
and Free.
Both works
of the King
uses modernist
modernism.
Grandson
Great-Great-Grandson
links with
inescapable
Free
is a text ? la Graciliano
to modernism's
nature
per
who belongs
a questioning
have
tech
second generation?
se. Maranh?o's
text
among
things
to be discussed
uses
below,
a subtle
simulacrum
essay, and
novel.
As mentioned,
In Brazilian
and High
Sant'Anna,
works.
by Sergio
to a pastiche
recipe of plots, topics and narrative forms that sells well without any
to
These
novels
would
artistic
achievement.
further
correspond
art. This
of postmodern
characterization
Jameson's
and Merquior's
reflects
the
literature
shows
that in its contemporary
also, Brazil
on
the
issue.
international
postmodern
polemics
as
on the aesthetic
sector
that can be denominated
Focusing
high postmodernism?final
can be said,
abandons
modernist
and
that postmodernism
Calinescu,
along
and
for
the
of
innovative
nature,
renovation,
opts
avant-garde
logic
enters
with
the old and the
reconstructive
"into a lively
dialogue
a point
reached
The
(276).
experimentation
avant-gardist
past"
with
white
the white
canvass,
"consists
of recognizing
silence.
page,
that the past,
The
since
alternative
postmodern
be destroyed,
it cannot
and Free,
that carries
whose
questioning
a certain
dose
of
uses
of parody,
satire,
irony,
in a double
result
of the past,
becomes
perversion
etc.,
play,
for
feature
in
the
literary
a tex
and
recon
texts:
spectrum
a potential
turn the
obvious
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25
of the Eighties
Fiction
and Brazilian
Postmodernism
example is Eco's novel The Name of the Rose (Calinescu 284). Such
a commercial
success
of the dichotomy
leads to the reexamination
for
and avant garde
"between works
consumption
popular
designed
one
works
because
etc.),"
provocative,
experimental,
(unpopular,
can find "elements
in works
of revolution
and contestation
that lend
to facile consumption
themselves
...certain
works,
which
seem
to realize that
still enrage
and
provocative
the public,
Santiago's
key.
more
Free,
successful
market-wise,
with
success.
literature
and commercial
good
tation
takes over
the artistic
intention,
to the other. Complexity
postmodernism
But when
one shifts
loses out
of
the market
temp
from one side of
to consumerism.
is determined
literature,
postmodern
by a multi-codification
"allusion
and allusive
citation,
commentary,
playfully
invented
deliberate
reference,
recasting,
transposition,
the mixing
based
distorted
on
or
anachronism,
(Calinescu
aesthetics?versus
minimalism?
285). The postmodern
avant-garde
as "quotationist"
or "citationist"
thus can be described
(285). Grand
son is a perfect
on
of such a quotationist
text, and, although
example
a different
level, Free
and boundaries
blur among
are, therefore,
genres.
hybrid
products,
or "undecidability"
This
leads to "indeterminacy"
of form and con
on an equal
other
the "treatment
tent, achieved
by, among
things,
footing of fact and fiction, reality and myth, truth and lying, original
and imitation" (Calinescu 303).
Now
Maranh?o
"re-writes"
in order to determine
novels
works.
postmodernist
the King
revises
of
to
the
of
the conquest
in
"as if",
of"
another
text,
the chronicles),
the
course
is contrasted
by means
to his
Lisbon
lover.
of a structural
element
of
letters
re-write,
the text:
the
sends from
for Europe,
falsified version of the facts that took place in the New World. The
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26
author's
is to playfully
purpose
unravel
Latin American
Literary Review
the falsehood
of
the colonial
myth.
Nevertheless,
chronicles),
text
the author's
between
"difference"
exists.
and
the
Grandson,
text (the
"original"
as a simulated
text,
does not efface the original but refers back to it; it communicates
at the same time. The
model
and its alteration
sense.
in
innocent
Calinescu's
parody,
Another
his
own
parodie
that never
in a text
adventures
existed.
the
is the non
difference
Moreover,
reads
author
O Torto
had
whose
manuscript
reliable
chronicler,
to an educated
of D.
Jer?nimo
been entrusted
the chronicler
and
de
reading
facts....
Grandson
also
chronicler
other
parodies
literary
about
works.
non-occurred
Maranh?o
destroys
the
de Queir?z, Machado
Fernando
Pessoa,
de Assis,
Guimaraes
Francisco Otaviano,
Manuel
Rosa,
Bandeira,
Olavo Bilau,
Drummond
de
Andrade, Cabrai de Melo Neto, Mario Faustino and L?do Ivo." This
book thus becomes a gigantic system of literary referentiality, a text
universe
that
raises
the
central
of postmodernism:
question
"Can
literature
be
said
"Can
to be
'representation
of
reality' when reality itself turns out to be shot with fiction through
and through?" (Calinescu 299)
of postmod
with
the precursors
emerged
as Borges,
With
their
and Beckett.
Nabokov
tran
and
representation
they problematized
theme.
For example,
the great
representational
Those
questions
such
ernism?writers
respective
scended
poetics,
as
reality
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have
all of which
futures,
27
of the Eighties
Fiction
and Brazilian
Postmodernism
to fictional
claims
equal
representation"
(Calinescu 300).
to
in Latin American
of the need
because
However,
countries,
this
the
somehow
situation,
represent
tough socio-political-economic
Garc?a M?rquez,
is not generalized.
from
Vargas
reality
separation
have
for instance,
Llosa
and Carlos
Fuentes,
engag?
produced
to a certain degree.
In Brazil,
writers
have not lost contact
literature
what
to reinforce
in order
process
since Brazilian
modernism.
national
identity?a
frequent
theme
the protagonist's
the adventure
sense of
treated with an excellent
the
feat
of
the
e.,
(i.
prose,
juxta
adventures,
of language
parody;
etc.
mosaic,
Finally, modernism
Besides
the
of
subversion
the author's
techniques
already mentioned,
a modernist
retains
aftertaste.
He experiments
with
language
new words,
uses
with
their
invents
words,
rare,
sounds,
plays
ones.
con
anachronistic
The
it. The
context,
however,
justifies
to parody
frontation
is utilized
the formal
rules
colonized/colonizer
of Portuguese
and he incorporates
grammar,
indigenous
expressions
for the sound's
sake.
practice
use of
If Maranh?o
Silviano
spreads differentiation
on
Santiago,
can
contrary,
to such a degree
undecidability
exercise
the
differentiate
the
takes
"lost" manuscripts
print.
of
the poetics
of
textual
"original"?that
keys
does
not
exist?from
a real writer?Graciliano
Ramos.
Silviano's
This
manuscript
contains
an
autobiographic
fragment?it
The
ambiguous
status
of Free,
therefore,
starts
form
the very
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28
Latin American
as a false-authentic
of Ramos' Memorias.
entiality
Given
this framework,
outset
text
to
subject
Santiago's
the
Literary Review
in dispens
consists
proposal
refer
ever-present
ing with himself in order to take the position of the "other", and, as a
to become
result,
the
simulacrum
other.
that
of
as
And
such
there
sense,
has
a postmodern
been
of
implosion
boundaries.
essay
Santiago's book mixes biography (or pseudo-auto-biography),
(as a study about an author and his relation with society) and novel
(the book appears as fiction). In the sense that it is a biography, the
book thoroughly
(and, at times, perversely)
presents Ramos,
as
that
he
had
about
the
well as his most
himself,
concept
including
trivial thoughts. Simultaneously,
the book develops through Ramos
an
discourse
essay-like
about
the writer's
moment
socio-political
present...the
persistence
of
authoritarian
in
regimes
makes
good
use
of Ramos'
as a writer;
circumstance
the
when
reading....This
ature.
Fascism
is not only
reader
a strong
has
to make
a fascist
and
vision
authoritarian,
any effort
of
liter
usually
him
into a uniformed
being....
fictional
conflict
is...a
copy
of
subjectivities
the reading
conflict.
find in
Fiction can exist only when there is conflict....To
fiction what one expected to find...is the fascist way. (117)
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29
of the Eighties
Fiction
and Brazilian
Postmodernism
some
can see here
of the postmodern
kind
of critique
as
Human
for San
Baudrillard.
described
emancipation,
by
society,
as
text
critical
Writers,
producers,
passes
reading.
through
tiago,
to contribute
to that emancipatory
task:
have the responsibility
One
within
time
society....Any
that
they
see
that
a norm
is
then,
preferable,
an essay"
(117).
Santiago mixes
This book
is a clear example
of what
social commitment.
to as "a postmodernism
of resistance"
refers
(xii). Free
as does grandson.
Other
Brazilian
cultural
codes,
post
Amazona
Art
and High
novels?like
the already mentioned
of those codes.
the exploitation
the writer's
Hal Foster
questions
modern
?pursue
Merquior,
others.
But
the
latters'
refusal
to recognize
the exis
always
exists?and
still retains
has had.
to believe
that the author of such works as The
ever
as
"could
have written a piece as muddled,
of Language
as
as
as
and
that
eclectic
dis
question-begging
lengthy
inconsequential,
"
cussion on 'the cultural logic of late capitalism'
(11). In his article, Jameson
draws on Mandel's
Late Capitalism
and Adorno's
"culture industry" in The
Dialectic
Within
this theoretical framework,
"Mr. Jameson
of Enlightenment.
but he throws in everything
else" (Britton 11). Jameson
spares us Nietzsche,
finds
it hard
includes,
Lacan,
among others,
Sontag, Burke, Kant, Freud, Williams,
Mann,
Sartre, and "then dole out the resulting cognitive
soup as a theory"
this postmodern
(Britton 11). Against
indigestion,"
"epidemic of discursive
as the best method
to Marxism
faithful
"for analysing
Britton
remains
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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
30 Latin American
Literary Review
capitalist society in concrete detail and (therefore) for devising practical ways
to an authentic democracy
to eliminate
which
the structural impediments
embodies"
(17).
capitalism
2Whereas
to hold onto fundamental
wants
Jameson
distinctions
Kellner
between
social classes, base/superstructure,
etc.,
Left/Right,
prefers
to "analyze postmodernism
in terms of a theory of techno-capitalism
that
would present the current social order in the capitalist countries as synthesis
and capitalism
that is characterized
of new technologies
by new technical,
to
social and cultural forms combining with capitalist relations of productions
create the social matrix of our times. This move points to continuities with
and the need to revive, update,
the social theories of the past (i. e., Marxism)
in the light of contemporary
con
theories
expand and develop
previous
ditions" (267).
3All translations from
texts are mine.
Portuguese
4 For a
of
resistance
that embraces
the discourse
of
postmodernism
see
others from the Lyotardian
Owens.
fragmentation,
5 Such
the task of individuals,
involves
artists and
cognitive mapping
orientation
and a theoretical model
theorists in providing
of how society is
structured. See Jameson's "Cognitive Mapping."
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Intelligence
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31
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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions