The intellectual in its labyrinth: high culture, modern novel and nationalism

What is it about?

This study reflects on the concepts of culture in the context of contemporary reading and publishing and its influence in the formation of the legitimacy of certain approaches, themes and genres. It analyses a representative part of the cultural debates in Portugal in the mid-19th century and early 20th century as well as the place of popular publishing and the complex symbolic struggles between national and foreign printed production, especially French and Brazilian publishing house legacies.

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Why is it important?

Arguments are presented not only to identify points of contact between the Portuguese case and those European countries with a close affinity to it, but also to allow an understanding of the specificity of this case in the light of the relationship between literature, politics, history, society, conservative elitism, nationalism and the affirmation of the literary field. The historical novel is here an exemplary locus of complex intersections in cultural creation, reception and debate.