Poetry and art in Southern Brazil

Cruz e Sousa and scientific thought in the second half of the nineteenth century

Abstract

In the second half of the 19th century, Brazilian society incorporated a series of scientific discourses establishing racial concepts in order to think about the constitution of Brazil as a nation. Literature played an important role in the discussion of these ideas. This research aims to point out some relationships between the poetic production and the artistic engagement of Cruz e Sousa with the scientific thought that arose at the time. Cruz e Sousa was the son of freed slaves, privileged to receive a “white man’s education” in the city of Desterro/Florianópolis, SC. ​​His poems collected in the works Julieta dos Santos: Homenagem ao Gênio Dramático Brasileiro and Tropos e Fantasias are taken as sources. To this end, references are explored that allow us to understand the relationships between the literary text and history, based mainly on the conceptions of Beatriz de Morais Vieira, investigating how art is part of the poet’s experience.