Author: Dinneen, Mark Andrew
Title: Listening to the People's Voice: Erudite and Popular Literature in North East Brazil
Description: London, Kegan Paul International, 1996. orig.boards. 24x16cm, 296 pp. Textual illustrations.. Minor rubbing. VG. dustwrapper. ¶ Erudite writers in Brazil have consistently attempted to assimilate expressions of popular culture and folklore into their work, and this process has long given a considerable dynamism to the development of the nation's literature. The core of the present work will be an exploration of that process, which can only be understood in the context of the continued employment of literature as an instrument for forging cultural nationalism in Brazil, and the central place occupied in the process by regionalism as a vital factor in the country's literary development. It is upon the Brazilian North East that the study will focus, since nowhere in Brazil has literary regionalism proved more dynamic and resiliant, or programmes to promote regional art and culture formulated more clearly and consistently. It is a vast area comprising nine states which has developed a strong tradition of erudite literature (Alencar, Tavera, da Cunha, Ramos,Amado, Suassuna), and which to this day remains rich in folkloric forms of expression (song, music, dance, poetry and legend). The basic objectives of the work may be summarized as follows. Firstly, it aims to highlight the crucial difference between the erudite literary tradition of North East Brazil and the popular cultural expressions of the region, especially the popular poetic or "romanceiro" tradition, showing how those differences are rooted in the contrasting objective conditions within which the respective literatures are produced..." - Publisher's description.

Keywords: Brazilian Chapbooks, Ariano Suassuna, Northeast Brazil, Latin America, Literary Literature, Literary Chapbook, Ethnography Folk, Regionalism, Nationalism Popular