From the early verses to the late prose: Mário de Andrade in the literary career of Pedro Nava

Abstract

This paper studies Mário de Andrade’s importance to the literary formation of Pedro Nava. As basis for this discussion, we select a letter written by Mário in 1925. In this document, he encourages Nava to focus, in many senses, on the diversity of Brazilian linguistic references. In his first works, Nava shows a strong dependence on Mários’ literary model. However, about fifty years later, his memoirs manifest an enlarged view of linguistic diversity pointed in that letter. This period of half century allows a reevaluation of some assumptions of Brazilian Modernism, resumed or even recreated by Nava’s mature prose.