The Critical Theory of Roberto Schwarz. An Introduction

Abstract

The essay presents an introduction, in which the intellectual formation of Roberto Schwarz in the beginning of the 1960s is situated, highlighting the influence of Theodor Adorno, Antonio Candido and the group of studies on Marx (I). Then, the main ideas and methodological aspects elaborated in the so-called Marx Seminar and later assumed by Schwarz, are examined; among which stand out a) a new dialectical conception of progress; b) the dialectical analysis of the relationship between Brazil and the international scene, in which the terms are clarified respectively; c) the formation of capitalism in Brazil would present a singularity, not repeating the history of developed countries, among other ideas (II) Next, the conception of literary form formulated by Antonio Candido, which would be rigorously assumed by Schwarz (III, IV) The next item (V) analyzes part of Schwarz's intellectual production, highlighting his analysis of the work of Machado de Assis, which is developed with the aim of clarifying the relationship between literary form and social process, at the same time that the Brazilian literary process is understood in relation to the present of capitalism globally considered; In this movement, the sense of the civil-military coup imposed on the country in 1964 is also critically configured. Then (item VI) several of Schwarz's essays are analyzed in order to highlight the implications and reach of his conception of the literary process; finally, his analyzes of the country's social and cultural process are highlighted, notably the period marked by national-developmentalism, which would have been abruptly interrupted in 1964; Next, the essay “End of Century” is analyzed, in which Schwarz elaborates an interpretation of the period inaugurated with the end of the aforementioned national-developmentalism, which would be marked by a unified logic of the movement of capital on a global level, but which would affect the countries of late industrialization in order to provoke the appearance of a logic of social disintegration. Finally, some of the literary or filmic works that critically elaborated a similar situation are mentioned.(VII)