Ida e volta: “quase Brasil”, “quase político” and the inherent vice of Freyre’s lusotropicalist framing

Miranda, Rui

Abstract

This article addresses the morpholinguistic and stylistice devices underwriting Freyre’s writing as the notion of “lusotropicalism” is advanced, mainly in the travelogue Aventura e rotina (1953) and the accompanying volume Um brasileiro em terras portuguesas (1953). With a view to questioning the foundations as well as to reexamining the conditions of possibility of a number of national and transnational commonplaces, policies and discourses which, knowingly or unknowingly, are inspired or shaped by Freyre’s “lusotropicalism,” it will break down the use of metaphors, morpholinguistic tropes, and the simile carrying Freyre’s self-fashioning as a modern Luís de Camões. Freyre’s observations on the then Portuguese colonies are of importance only insofar as they help build up his own projection of a “mundo português” and a lusotropical “family” led by Brazil, as he disingenuously acquiesces that his journey (sponsored by the Portuguese Estado Novo) acquires a “significado quase político”.

Citation

Miranda, R. (2021). Ida e volta: “quase Brasil”, “quase político” and the inherent vice of Freyre’s lusotropicalist framing. Luso-Brazilian Review, 58(1), 179-204

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 22, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Jul 6, 2021
• Publication Date: 2021
• Deposit Date: Feb 11, 2021
• Journal: Luso-Brazilian Review
• Print ISSN: 0024-7413
• Electronic ISSN: 1548-9957
• Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 58
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 179-204
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/5316957
• Publisher URL: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/797304