Realism, canon and exclusion in contemporary Brazilian literature

Abstract

We may notice today the presence of some literary narratives separated from the “high literatures” produced generally by white and median class men. The editorial market is gradually opening space for a kind of literature that uses different forms of expression from those know as canonical and produced by marginal social segments. However, the main definition of literature continues to be within a favored place of expression that, without any neutrality, corresponds to the manifestations of socially privileged groups. This kind of literary production is inside a bigger cultural movement, in which the real seems to be the starting point for the main part of Brazilian fictional prose. In other words, we could say that there is an enormous search for referentiality not only in the literary manifestations but in the contemporary culture as well. This article discusses the reception of literature produced by social groups located outside the society and how literature is inside the “new realism” found in the Brazilian fictional narrative.