DIALECTICS OF DEPENDENCE IN ANTONIO CANDIDO’S LITERARY HISTORIOGRAPHY (1970-1973)

Abstract

In “Literatura e subdesenvolvimento” (Literature and Underdevelopment) (1970), Antonio Candido sought to understand, from the crisis of developmentalism, how the situation of “backwardness” in Latin American societies was reflected in the field of culture, especially in literature. Our hypothesis is that, in the essay, underdevelopment is seen as the singular condition of the periphery of capitalism, no longer as a transitory stage of socio-historical evolution based on a notion of linear, progressive and evolutionary time that precedes development. By noting that “backwardness” is not just a force that opposes progress, Candido outlines the dialectic of dependence that shapes the very formation of socio-political life in Latin America.

Keywords
Antonio Candido; Dependence; Literary Historiography; Brazilian Historiography; Underdevelopment