Antonio Candido, Eduardo Lourenço and Lino Micciché: the reception of Brazilian literature abroad in the wake of “Cinema Novo”

Abstract

In this paper we present and discuss texts addressing Brazilian literature, which were divulged and circulated in the foreign circuit of our Cinema Novo.  We call attention to Antonio Candido’s paper read in Italy, in 1965, in the round table dedicated to the Cinema Novo movement, as well as to Carlos Diegues’ and Glauber Rocha’s texts. Concerning the two filmmakers, we highlight how they depicted Brazilian literature as a cultural antecedent of Cinema Novo.  Based on Jauss’ theory, we understand critical reception as a creative event and sought to indicate how texts produced by Cinema Novo authors were seen by foreign critics as a reading key to the relationship between the new cinema and Brazilian literature. As an example of this textual reception, we take into consideration Eduardo Lourenço and Lino Micciché’s essays about Cinema Novo, published in Italy in 1969 and 1970, respectively.