This paper approaches the novels Fogo morto (1943) by José Lins do Rego and Cidade de Deus (1997): a novel by Paulo Lins to explore the hypothesis that the narratives deals with aspects of processes of social crisis and, by doing so, trigger violence as privileged mediation of relations between these individuals and the state. Accordingly, the conflicts over authority and power establish the connections between literary form and social process, enabling to analyze the boundaries to the effectiveness of social rights and, consequently, the statement of equality as a regulatory principle of the Brazilian republican life.
Rights and Citizenship; Sociology of Literature; José Lins do Rego; Paulo Lins