Description
Book SynopsisOne of Brazil’s leading historians denaturalizes the country’s Northeast, showing when, by whom, and for what reasons the region was invented as a region with a particular identity.
Trade Review"Originally published in 1999 in Portuguese, Durval Muniz de Albuquerque Jr.’s excellent book will now find a much expanded, English-speaking audience and should inform another wave of scholarship.... Albuquerque straddles disciplines, with his exploration of prose, theater, cinema, and television. Fifteen years past its original publication, the book dialogues in productive ways with a newly energized field; the growing focus on spatial history should produce an interested group of readers who may take away different lessons than the book’s initial audience. Albuquerque in some ways anticipated the recent attention to space and place." -- Thomas D. Rogers * Hispanic American Historical Review *
"
The Invention of the Brazilian Northeast . . . is an enthralling book that will give the reader a clearer understanding of Brazilian culture." -- Diego A. Godoy * Not Even Past *
"Albuquerque's
The Invention of the Brazilian Northeast is a masterpiece for both the originality of its thesis, and for its virtuosic readings of Brazilian art and literature." -- Aaron Ansell * EIAL *
"Albuquerque’s book prompts us not only to examine the origins and consequences of discourses of Northeastern regionalism. His work, exemplary in its theoretical underpinnings and methodological rigour, is a model for discourse-centred analysis of any historical subject." -- Seth Garfield * Canadian Journal of History *
"
The Invention of the Brazilian Northeast is a comprehensive and sensitive unmasking of the ways in which well-meaning intellectuals became trapped in tedious reiteration of the stereotypes that 'invented' the Brazilian Northeast as a sociocultural region from 1919 to 1969.... Albuquerque’s readings are swift, allusive, and delicate.... Albuquerque’s intellectual history of region is so fine and rich that we want it to cover more territory." -- Dain Borges * American Historical Review *
“
The Invention of the Brazilian Northeast is a soulful scholarly work.” -- Brodwyn Fischer * Latin American Research Review *
Table of ContentsForeword / James Green ix Acknowledgments xiii Introduction 1 1. Geography in Ruins 14 The Regionalist Gaze 15 The New Regionalism 21 Regionalist Literature 25 North versus South 29 2. Spaces of Nostalgia 36 Stories of Tradition 36 The Invention of the Northeast 44 Northeastern Pages 74 Northeastern Brush Strokes 109 Northeastern Music 114 Northeastern Dramas 124 3. Territories of Revolt 131 The Inversion of the Northeast 131 Controversy and Indignation 151 Portraits of Misery and Pain 176 Images That Cut and Pierce 184 Seeing through the Camera Eye 192 Conclusion 220 Notes 233 Bibliography 255 Index 269
