Structures of Feeling in 20th Century Recife
Structures of Feeling; Modernization; Recife
The objective of this paper is to analyze the literary representations about the city of Recife throughout the 20th century, using the conceptual framework of the Welsh author Raymond Williams. The Structures of Feelings are configured as an important cultural hypothesis, with several methodological implications for thinking about Brazilian literature. This paper argues that they function as a methodological proposal to equate the relationship between individual and society, with several significant implications for Sociology. In this way, this paper promoted an analysis of the works and trajectories of important intellectuals in the cultural context of Pernambuco – José Lins do Rego, José Américo de Almeida, Gilberto Freyre, Mário Sette and Hermilo Borba Filho. Around the dilemma of modernization, based on trajectories in crisis, a structure of feelings is revealed that is based on a specific social experience: the decadence experienced and felt deeply by the heirs of a rural way of life based on the sugar mills. Ultimately, through the theme of inheritance and generational transition, the authors are discussing the possible paths for thinking about modernization in the country, as well as dealing with fundamental issues for our Brazilian formation.