Antonio Candido, keeper of the taut bow of interpretation

Abstract

This paper aims to examine Candido’s method, self-called structural reduction, a theoretical approach that preserves both the aesthetic value and the social function of the literary work in the process of understanding it. Engaging in a divergent interpretation from that of Sociology of Literature, master Candido’s view integrates the social element which conditions (and lies outside the artistic creation) the literary structure into a critical reading that stems from the blend of various theoretical foundations, among which the American new criticism and the British social anthropology stand out. This paper intends to show the importance of the sociological reading of Brazilian literature, undertaken by Candido and subsequently deployed in the work of some of his former students, first-rate essayists in Brazilian literary criticism.