ABSTRACT
It would be inappropriate to attempt a thorough panorama of Brazilian literature within the confines of this chapter. Even less possible would be to attempt a detailed analysis of works or an exhaustive inventory of authors. Instead, my goal will be to provide an outline of the major tendencies that characterize the body of Brazilian writing. My approach, while, for didactic reasons, chronological, does not follow the rigid periodization in terms of styles so typical of historical treatments of Brazilian literature. In this sense, authors and works will be mentioned to the extent that they illustrate the tendencies developed, without any pretense to provide a complete description of an intrinsically complex phenomenon.
