A diletante at the university: Alexandre Eulalio's criticism and literary history

Author(s)

Fabio Della Paschoa Rodrigues

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: Campinas, SP.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem
• Defense date: 2008-02-28

Examining board members

Antonio Arnoni Prado; Vera Maria Chalmers; Marcia Marque de Morais

• Advisor: Antonio Arnoni Prado

Abstract

This dissertation examines the literary criticism produced by Alexandre Eulalio (1932-1988), tracing his intellectual trajectory from the beginning of his contribution to newspapers and magazines as a young student, going through his work as editor of Revista do Livro, until he joins Campinas State University as a guest professor. With a formation especially marked by autodidacticism, at a time when the figure of dilettante was not well regarded, it would be at university that criticism should take most of the multiskilled intellectual¿s time, who worked as editor, historian, critic, teacher and researcher. This research seeks to support the claim that his work as critic was constricted by that as journalist, editor and historian, finding shelter for its later development, in a university environment, where Eulalio comes first as a visiting professor at foreign universities and afterwards as a professor of notorious knowledge at Unicamp. This study also examines how the criticism of Eulalio, which gathers historical knowledge and formal analysis, is moved by the passion and identification of the critic with the contemplated object, something that interferes in his selection of authors, in his treatment of the subject, and in the composition of criticism itself, reflecting features of the work or author under analysis (AU)