Vá para fora cá dentro – Camilo in times of crisis

Abstract

The readers of Camilo Castelo Branco (1825-1890) are familiar with descriptions of “brasileiros de torna-viagem” (emigrants who returned from Brazil) predominantly based on unflattering motives. However appropriate it may seem from the point of view of the Portuguese author, this type of description has two problems. On the one hand, it neglects the complexity of the phenomenon of emigration and the importance that many of these emigrants had in the economic and cultural development of their hometowns. On the other hand, it disregards that the novelist’s own literary career can be described as a story of emancipation, combined with strategies for building local solidarity. By addressing these problems, this essay argues that the “Brazil” that we need to face times of crisis, for being everywhere, can realistically be in our own São Miguel de Seide.