This article presents an analysis of the representation of mass culture and consumer culture in relatos (stories) from André Sant'Anna's Sexo e amizade. I analyze the stories in question within the context of Brazilian literature's extensive dialogue with mass culture that has been in place since the beginning of the twentieth century, and which has often produced critiques of consumer culture. I argue that, in the stories under study, Sant'Anna represents consumer culture as a force that is intrinsic to characters' social relations and conceptualizations of reality. He articulates a critique of consumer culture's presence in Brazilian everyday life that departs from what Lidia Santos calls an aesthetic of difficulty, which marked Brazilian literature's approach to mass culture between the 1960s and the 1980s. This critique is conveyed through the use of language that is predominantly accessible and mediatic and through the depiction of individuals from different social classes.
consumption; everyday life; mass culture; André Sant'Anna