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Paper short abstract:

This paper considers different utopias constructed in the literature about the "sertões" of the Brazilian Northeast. My analysis will be in consonance with recent studies that seek to rethink the notions of nation and nationality, while abandoning perspectives with a restricted focus on the coast

Paper long abstract:

Considering classic studies about the "sertões", as comprehensive and difficult to classify as Euclides da Cunha's "Os Sertões" (1902), I will reflect upon the cultural universe that allowed the construction of different utopias, inserted into the debate about the concepts of Brazilian region, nation and nationality. Through a literary analysis of the literature on the "sertões" of the Brazilian Northeast, l will seek to analyze the construction of several utopias, according to specific historical and cultural contexts, but never as if isolated from the coast. With this, I will accompany the reflections that seek to make an historical approach that is not restricted or based on hierarchical concepts opposing the "coast", as a space of modernity and progress, to the "sertão", as a space of ruin and tradition, thus deconstructing a naturalized vision of the concept of the Brazilian Northeast. Contrary to essentialist visions, there is an imaginary that was materialized in a rich literary production that projects an utopian dimension on places, rivers, lands, kingdoms and cities from the end of the 19th century onwards. These themes can be found in the writings that deal with Portuguese Sebastianism, in its Brazilian specificities; in "cordel" literature, in particular in works such as "The hope of the poor", "The world in reverse", "The kingdom of stone", "Journey to heaven", "The country of Saint Saruê"; and in texts from the regionalist (José Lins do Rego) and the armorial (Ariano Suassuna) literary movements.