The Crisis of Utopias: the left in the novels of Antonio Callado

Antonio Callado would be 100 years old if he were alive today. A combative journalist, he devoted himself to writing plays, short stories and novels. Between 1941 and 1947, he lived in the United Kingdom, where he says he discovered a Brazil behind Brazil, frighteningly violent towards its people. In ’The crisis of utopias: the left in the novels of Antonio Callado, ’ we read a framework for the intellectual’s four novels, conceived during the Brazilian military dictatorship (1964-1985): Quarup, Bar Don Juan, Reflexos do Baile and Sempreviva. By constructing diverse characters who live in different times and places, Callado composes the plot of a single great novel, which ranges from utopia to melancholy, from the romance of learning to that of disillusionment. The publication of this research, completed in 1992, shows the relevance of the work of one of Brazil’s greatest writers.