A GUAIRÁ: AN EPIC SONG OF THE END OF THE CENTURY

Abstract

Through the analysis of Rocha Pombo's epic, A Guairá (1891), we revisit the tradition of Brazilian Indianism. Starting from a bifurcation in the first romanticism, through the representations of Gonçalves Dias and José de Alencar, it can be seen how the Indianist theme was organized by the historical demands from the context at the end of the century. Understood as part of a generational project and also related to its author's public ideals, we propose a re-reading based on the following topics: the status of the Amerindian at the end of the 19th century, republican anti-Lusitanism, the impact of migratory waves and the Pan-Americanism, as historical questions that update the genre in the secular transition.