JUNKYARDS AND UTENSILS: GRAMSCI´S CONCEPTS IN LITERARY AND CULTURAL INVESTIGATION

Abstract

Noting the importance that the concept of subalternity has acquired in the Brazilian literary studies, we indicate the origin of the term in Gramsci, its connection to the British cultural and Indian postcolonial studies, as well as its reflection in the Latin-American thought. Considering the geopolitical position of Antonio Gramsci, we recover the concepts of hegemony, cultural organization, organic intellectual and intellectual subordination, showing the usefulness of this theoretical instrumental to the Brazilian literary studies. From this point of view, we point to the validity of Darcy Ribeiro’s idea of “historical actualization”, connecting it to Roberto Schwarz’s conclusion about the continuous interruption of our critic thinking in favor of theoretical waves arriving from global centers. To show the applicability of Gramscian theory, we identify in Aluísio Azevedo’s O mulato an example of cultural subordination of the periphery to the center, indicating the gap between the progressive ideal that underpins the novel and the reality to which that ideal serves as an interpretive filter.