The porosities of the national literary field: the emergence of post-Holocaust literature in Brazil

Abstract

In this article, which dialogues with the central ideas of the doctoral research I completed in 2020, I propose to think of post-Holocaust Brazilian literature as an emerging literature within the literary field of Brazil. The emergence, conceptualized as a potential and an act of rupture, has been conditioned by theoretical-critical research that saw this literary expression as marginalized, ethnic and alien to Brazilian realities. In order to overcome this confinement, I contextualize it as an autonomous and heterogeneous literary ensemble that erupts the boundaries between the notions of Brazilian literature, Jewish literature and Holocaust literature. In addition, as a particular characteristic and primary parameter of its emergence, I draw attention to the presence of intertwined memories of various stories of violence which provoke a reflection about new ways of remembrance in post-dictatorial Brazil.