Antonio Candido's Apprenticeship Years (1930-1940)

• In Event: New Perspectives on Brazilian Literature

Abstract

The apprenticeship years of a widely known intellectual like Antonio Candido de Mello e Souza configure a subject that requires reflection in the fields of sociology and education, both areas interested in the theme of cultural formation and its resulting sociability arrangements. Based on that, the present study aims at discussing Antonio Candido's apprenticeship years, which coincide with his years of school education and political engagement at youth, in the midst of 1930's, in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. These building moments are considered decisive, as they support what resulted in the maturing of an admittedly socialist political positioning throughout his adult life.
The selected starting point of this research is the first article written by Antonio Candido for a school paper, along with the countless encounters and events he experienced throughout the decades of 1930's and 1940's. Interviews, publications and all the intellectual's critical fortune are carefully considered in the process of reconstruction of his apprenticeship and development years. This biographical perspective is offered by the German sociology of Georg Simmel and Norbert Elias, source of inspiration and orientation of the chosen methods.

Author

• Camila Antunes, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP)