O Brasil visto a partir do Sul : a perspectiva nacionalista de João Simões Lopes Neto

Abstract

João Simões Lopes Neto was a writer from Pelotas, Brazil, who lived between 1865 and 1916. He has been posthumously recognized for Contos Gauchescos (1912) and Lendas do Sul (1913). For these works, the author was considered a canon of gauchesco literature, the part of Brazilian literature that deals with the gaucho lifestyle. In 1904 and 1906 performed his Conferências Cívicas (Civic Conferences). These conferences together with the works Artinha de Leitura (a spelling-book) and Terra Gaúcha: Histórias da Infância (a book for practice reading) represent the core of what we call his civic and pedagogical project. By analyzing this project it is possible to notice the author's concern with the public education in his country, as well as the lack of nationalism inserted in it. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to think about the author from another point of view other than only literature, by analyzing him as an intellectual committed with his time. This engagement led him to read the works of other intellectuals and to establish new connections with them. In addition, he critically pointed out the problems of public education while creating a bold project to solve them, especially regarding primary education and the lack of a sense of nationality. Thus, it is possible to notice that the author created an interesting discursive form that aimed to present the homeland to the children. In this case, the land of Rio Grande do Sul, telling its history, its traditions and how it all fit the history of the nation as a whole. The main idea was to understand Brazil from a southern point of view. At the same time, that research corpus points to the possibility of a kind of reuse of this project in his literary works of a greater expression.