Luso-Asio-Afro-Brazilian Studies & Theory I

Colony, Cult and Culture

Alfredo Bosi

Edited by Pedro Meira Monteiro, Princeton University

Translated by Robert P. Newcomb, University of California Davis

Colony, Cult and Culture is an extraordinary reflection on the process of colonization, on the meanings of domination, of cultural resistance and negotiation in colonial and postcolonial societies. Departing from the roots of the word "colony," Alfredo Bosi investigates how cultural phenomena develop on a complex space that is neither purely erudite nor simply popular, and how a whole culture is to be found "beyond the pale of writing." "Culture" and "cult" are the forces that point to the future and to the past, conditioning the agency of those who struggle among the remains of colonial power. Through its theoretical depth and its moral and political engagement, this book welcomely brings fresh air to the discussions on postcolonialism and popular culture, making available for the English-speaking reader a fundamental essay of Latin American imagination.

Praise for Colony, Cult and Culture

Arcadio Diaz Quiñones
Alfredo Bosi has with wisdom and delicacy written essays and books on poets, poetry, and Brazilian culture. This translation will allow new readers, at long last, to admire one of his unusually perceptive essays, which helps focus critical and historical attention on Brazil and Latin America's complex and vulnerable colonial legacies. This volume does Bosi the finest kind of critical justice: it makes his work available to a larger audience, and it offers a portrait of a brilliant and inspiring critic.
Celso Furtado
This is a mature and surprisingly innovative reflection on the formation of the people and institutions of Brazil. Bosi's descriptive mapping of what occurred in Brazil during the colonial period is unprecedented in our historiography in terms of its breadth and perceptiveness.
Candace Slater
Full of meditations that grow out of concrete and vivid examples, such as a 'hillbilly' prayer or the African-Brazilian dance called 'calundu,' Bosi's writing allows his readers to see and hear the lived experience behind his theories. In so doing, the book encourages them to look again at much-used terms such as 'popular,' 'hybrid,' and 'resistance' in the light of a Brazil that will strike many English-speaking readers as at once unique and, at times, surprisingly familiar.
Roberto Schwarz
Putting aside any differences of opinion, it is a pleasure to know that this book will cause lively debates in the classroom. The questions it raises reflect an interweaving of literary criticism, historical research, and moral and political engagement that is new and that contributes to the uniqueness of the work.
João Cezar de Castro Rocha
An English translation of Alfredo Bosi's poignant and indispensable reflections on the 'dialectic of colonization' is long overdue. Bosi's erudite and sharp essay will bring about nothing less than the reshaping of contemporary theories on postcolonialism, which have been almost exclusively grounded in the Anglo-American historical experience.
Antonio Candido
Alfredo Bosi is not only a great critic, but can be considered a complete critic. From his first works, his grounding in philosophy, the originality of his points of view, and the clarity and perfection of his writing stand out.

About the author

Descendente de italianos, Bosi é filho de Teresa Meli, salernitana, e Alfredo Bosi. Após de se formar em Letras Neolatinas pela Universidade de São Paulo (USP), em 1960, recebeu uma bolsa de estudos para a Itália, onde permaneceu por dois anos, na cidade de Florença.

De volta ao Brasil, tornou-se professor de língua e literatura italiana na USP, cargo que ocupou por dez anos.

Em 1964, escreveu a tese A Narrativa de Pirandello. Seis anos mais tarde, defendeu livre docência com a tese Mito e Poesia em Leopardi.

Embora professor de literatura italiana, Bosi sentia-se dividido interiormente por causa de seu grande interesse pela literatura brasileira, o qual o levou a escrever os livros: Pré-Modernismo (1966) e História Concisa da Literatura Brasileira (1970). Em 1972, Bosi decidiu-se pelo ensino de literatura brasileira no departamento de Letras Clássicas e Vernáculas da Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas da USP.

Foi vice-diretor do IEA - Instituto de Estudos Avançados da USP de 1987 a 1997, ano em que passou, a partir do mês de dezembro, a ocupar o cargo de diretor.

Bosi é editor da revista Estudos Avançados desde 1989.

Entre outras atividades no IEA, coordenou o Programa Educação para a Cidadania (1991-96), integrou a comissão coordenadora da Cátedra Simón Bolívar (convênio entre a USP e a Fundação Memorial da América Latina) e coordenou a Comissão de Defesa da Universidade Pública(1998)e presidiu a Comissão de Ética da USP (2000-04).

Em 2003, Alfredo Bosi foi eleito para Academia Brasileira de Letras. Desde então ele ocupa a cadeira nº 12.

Alfredo Bosi é casado com a psicóloga social, escritora e professora do Instituto de Psicologia da USP, Ecléa Bosi, com quem tem dois filhos, José Alfredo, professor de Economia, e Viviana Bosi, atual professora do Departamento de Teoria Literária da USP.

Fonte: Wikipedia

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* luso-asio-afro-brazilian studies & theory