The Backlands are Everywhere but not in the City Discourses on sertão and the City in Brazilian Literature

This article analyses two examples of Brazilian literature, João Guimarães Rosa’s  Grande sertão: veredas  and João Antônio’s “Abraçado ao meu rancor”. Whereas the first narrates the  sertão , “Abraçado ao meu rancor” is entirely dedicated to the metropolis of São Paulo. This article aims to display a series of resemblances between the two pieces that tend to disrupt an old but still active axiom of Brazilian social thought: the dichotomy between the country ( sertão ) and the city. The analysis begins by building up the distinction between the sertão and the city as it appears in most Brazilian literature and literary criticism. This opposition leads to a series of other constitutive polarities, such as development/underdevelopment, nature/culture, faith/reason. Through a reading of Rosa’s novel and Antônio’s story, this article will then juxtapose the  sertão  and the city showing how oppositions that have sustained so much of the Brazilian social thought are categories that need to be deconstructed.