Literature, today: chronicle of a foretold death

• Main Author: Bellei, Sérgio Luiz P.
• Publication Date: 2007
• Format: Article
• Language: por
• Source: Gragoatá
• Download full: https://periodicos.uff.br/gragoata/article/view/33181
• topic: death of literature; literary theory; literary history; Morte da literatura. Teoria literária. História da literatura

Historically understood, the question of the death of literature must be approached both in the context of the Age of Theory, the period that goes from the mid sixties through the early nineties, and in the context of the cultural, economic, social and technological changes of the last 40 years. Exposed both to a vigorous iconoclastic theorizing coming from inside the area of literary studies, and to historical changes in cultural, economic, social and technological affairs, literature as an institution has been showing signs of progressive fatigue. In the last ten years, however, alternative proposals have been suggesting that the announcement of the death of literature may have been premature, given its cultural and social relevance at the present moment.