LITERATURE
From
masters to
apprentices
léo ramos
Eduardo Nunomura
72
72 especial
SPECIAL
_ especialUSP
80
80anos
anos
AT 80usp
usp
The university’s contribution
in fields such as literary theory
and film criticism continues
W
alnice Nogueira Galvão was his first assistant
and still remembers the details of the years
during which they worked together, such
as when she learned that a well taught class
should be contained in four typewritten pages. Celso Lafer affectionately remembers the
care with which he always taught those who
studied with him. Maria Augusta Bernardes
Fonseca revered him as a brilliant conversationalist who could listen to the contributions
of others with respect and attention. They are
all remembering Antonio Candido, critic and
essayist, and professor emeritus of the University of São Paulo (USP) School of Philosophy,
Literature, and Human Sciences. He is also
known as “the master,” as Galvão, Lafer, Fonseca and so many others who worked with one
of the key thinkers in Brazil prefer to call him.
Fonseca passed her qualifying exam for
promotion from assistant to associate professor at USP in 2006 and, the following year,
pESQUISA FAPESP December 2014 73
It was undergraduate course Theory (1866-1952), “a passionate Hegelian
began to coordinate research projects
on the legacy of the works of Antonio and Analysis of the Novel, introduced historian,” and the rise of that of AnCandido. There have been three so far. by Candido in the 1960s, that resulted tonio Gramsci (1891-1932), “a Marxist
The first on his essays, the second fo- in the Department of Literary Theory profoundly interested in the complexity
cusing on interviews, and the third and and Comparative Literature at FFLCH of culture, especially literature.” “After
current studying the prefaces he wrote. and its journal, Literatura e sociedade. my return to Brazil, rereading Otto Ma“As you can see, they are different facets, Celso Lafer, the president of FAPESP, ria Carpeaux and Antonio Candido aswith different objectives. Each contains took this course. “His Intellectual au- siduously, my influences also changed,
thority is that of a great without losing sight of the intricacies
the brilliance of his critical
master who, over the of culturalism and the stylistic reading
creativity and versatility,”
years, has become a of texts. Perhaps a desire to display the
explains the researcher.
landmark of Brazilian riches of different perspectives resulted
Since the first projculture,” stated Lafer from this syncretic moment, sensitive
ect, she has been collect- Formação da
in an article published to the multiplicity of critical views. I
ing summaries based on
in the 2009 Literatura sought to transmit this to students, inithe “master’s” views on literatura
e Sociedade issue com- tially as a professor of Italian literaliterature. Her first conbrasileira,
memorating Candido’s ture,” says Bosi, who formulated this
tact with his works was
90th birthday. In it, he approach in O ser e o tempo da poesia
Formação da literatura Candido’s
discusses the role Law (Man and time in poetry), a book pubbrasileira (The formation
School played in Anto- lished in 1977.
of Brazilian literature), seminal work,
USP professor emeritus Walnice
nio Candido’s career.
Candido’s seminal book,
Yes, in 1939 the “mas- Nogueira Galvão, a fundamental reffirst published in 1959 and was published
ter” took and passed erence in studies of the works of Eustill a fundamental conin 1959
the entrance exams to clides da Cunha (1866-1909) and Guitribution to the creation
study both social sci- marães Rosa (1908-1967), affirms that
of awareness of Brazilianence and law. He com- Antonio Candido was the best profesness. It was while pursupleted his degree in the sor she had on “five continents,” and
ing her master’s degree,
former, but did not fin- with whom she became friends. She
in the 1970s, focused on
Oswald de Andrade’s “Serafim Ponte ish the latter, despite staying with the visits him weekly and, when she travels
abroad, she visits him both before leavGrande,” that Fonseca had the oppor- course through the fifth year.
“We are children of our times and ing and when returning. With 40 books
tunity to attend his lectures, “long, but
tireless for the 200 students who filled our schooling,” says Alfredo Bosi, pro- published, Galvão remembers the time
the classroom.” The researcher came to fessor emeritus of Brazilian literature when she was working on her thesis for
see him as a “wellspring of criticism” at USP, referring to the eclectic uni- promotion from assistant to associate
given the variety and plurality of the versity environment of the late 1950s. professor, in 1972, when Candido, even
aspects that he discusses in his essays. “Studying literature provided us with though he was not a specialist on EuAnd this also serves as a lesson for Fon- both the historical and aesthetic
seca’s students studying Brazilian mod- dimensions of literary texts, toernism. “You cannot avoid reading An- gether with respect for philotonio Candido when you are studying logical scholarship, which was
Oswald de Andrade, Mário de Andrade, an asset, because we were not
Manuel Bandeira, Carlos Drummond imprisoned by any prior system.
de Andrade, Aníbal Machado and oth- But as the political climate of
the 1960s heated up even beers,” she states.
fore the military coup, feeding
leftist reform projects, our conLiterature and society
The current faculty in the literary the- ception of literature and culture
ory and comparative literature depart- also changed from a fusion of
ment at FFLCH no longer follow the existentialism and idealism to
same critical lineage focusing on the a view in which consideration
relationships between literature and of social determination weighed
society, an approach that the “master” more strongly and occupied the
still defends. But there is no lack of re- forefront of reflection on the
searchers, such as Joaquim Alves de nature and function of literaAguiar, Betina Bischof and Ana Paula ture.
Bosi studied in Florence for
Pacheco, who are fully dedicating them1
selves to, or in some way embracing, a brief period, in 1961-1962,
the study of Antonio Candido’s works and saw the decline in the inWalnice Nogueira Galvão: Antonio Candido was her best
professor “on five continents”
fluence of Benedetto Croce
in their research.
74 SPECIAL USP AT 80
2
Roberto Schwarz: critic of the works of Machado de Assis, he remains an influence in the Literary Theory, Brazilian Literature and Modern Literature departments
clides da Cunha, endeavored to help her
find references on the author. “Antonio
Candido was always concerned about
teaching others, and he did this by sharing with them his love of literature.”
Photos 1 eduardo cesar 2 miguel boyayan
Dialectical criticism
Although he advised many disciples
who are now lauded in intellectual
circles, such as Galvão, Davi Arrigucci, João Luiz Lafetá and José Miguel
Wisnik, Antonio Candido’s most direct
heir is Robert Schwarz. Professor of
literary theory and comparative literature at USP (until 1968) and of literary
theory at Unicamp (1978-1992), he absorbed from the “master” the method of
criticism that seeks to understand the
complex relationships between literary
form and social process. Schwarz was
his student as an undergraduate in social sciences, in 1958, the same year in
which he was a member of the iconic
group in the seminar on Capital, by Karl
Marx, which also consisted of the intellectuals Ruth and Fernando Henrique
Cardoso (later president of Brazil), Octavio Ianni, Fernando Novais, Paul Singer and José Arthur Giannotti. Roberto
history as represented in
Schwarz, together with
cultural production,” she
Leôncio Martins Rostates.
drigues, Francisco WefCevasco explains that
fort, Gabriel Bollaffi, Mi- “We are
the work of Schwarz,
chael Löwy and Bento
one of the greatest critics
Prado Júnior, was among children
of Machado de Assis, is
the most assiduous stuof our times
still read in the Literary
dents. In an interview
Theory, Brazilian Literawith Pesquisa FAPESP and our
ture and Modern Literain April 2004, Schwarz
ture departments at USP.
stated that the seminar schooling,”
Cevasco has published
on Marx was decisive in
articles in French and
his education because it says Alfredo
book chapters,
“required critical reflecBosi, professor English,
and organized a book of
tion about contemporeflections on Um mesrary society” and, at the emeritus
tre na periferia do capisame time, distanced ittalismo (A master on the
self from the “clumsy unperiphery of capitalism),
derstanding” that communist parties had of Marx at the time. published in 1990, one of Schwarz’s
Maria Elisa Cevasco, full professor in most emblematic essays. “His way of
the USP Modern Languages Depart- reading demonstrates that the literary
ment, reminds us of the importance of form is an abstraction of existing social
Schwarz’s dialectical criticism to young relationships,” explains Cevasco. “This
students as early as the 1970s, and it type of analysis allows us to see that
remains an important part of thinking artistic form is a synthesis that allows
for USP students. “His works continue us to intuitively understand social into teach us to construct criticism that teractions, thus providing us with the
helps us decipher the real changes in elements needed to judge them.” n
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