REPRESENTATIONS OF THE SUBJECT AND THE NATION IN THE LUSO-BRAZILIAN LITERARY TRADITION

Abstract

This article aims to critically analyze the transformations in the representations of the Subject and the Nation within the Luso-Brazilian literary tradition, from the colonial period to the contemporary era. The methodology employed is qualitative and bibliographic, based on cultural criticism and the comparative analysis of canonical and counter-canonical works (Minayo, 2017; Said, 2007), grounded in concepts such as Representation (Hall), Imagined Communities (Anderson), and Hybridity (Bhabha). The results indicate a tripartite trajectory: 1) Ideological Foundation, where literature idealized the Nation and forged the Hero Subject (Anderson, 2008); 2) Critique and Fragmentation, marked by realist and modernist disillusionment (Hall, 2003), exposing the Nation as a failed project; and 3) Post-Colonial Hybridity, with the emergence of voices from the margin (Spivak, 2010), reconfiguring Luso-Brazilian identity as multiple and decentralized. It is concluded that literature acted as a discursive field that shapes, criticizes, and ultimately rewrites the Nation from the perspective of the "in-between place" (Santiago, 2000), contributing to a more dynamic understanding of cultural identities.