A Nation yet to come in critical literary discourse: and criticism

The initial questions in this text revolved around three basic points: the articulation between nation, identity and literary criticism; the autonomy of Brazilian literature; and a discursive memory, corroborating this articulation and autonomy in the discourse of Brazilian literary criticism. We put forward the hypothesis that literary criticism in Brazil still seeks signs of Brazilianness, which invent a tradition and operate an imaginary foundation of nation/identity and a literature independent of any influence, affiliation and/or kinship. To answer these questions, we rely on the theoretical assumptions of French-oriented Discourse Analysis, bridging the theories of Pêcheux and those of Foucault, Bakhtin, and Maingueneau. In our answers, we perceive nation/identity and Brazilian literature, in literary criticism, as a symbolic-discursive construction and an ideological project of the State, aiming at the institution of a nation to come, in a process that confuses modernity with technological advancement.

Pagina's: 96, Paperback, Our Knowledge Publishing