Representations of the brazilian literary canon in Quatro Cinco Um magazine

Abstract

This article analyzes a selection of texts published in Quatro Cinco Um magazine between 2017 and 2021, as it is one of the main journals in circulation in Brazil dedicated to book reviews. The exploratory research started from the magazine covers, where a recurring presence of representations of the Brazilian literary canon was perceived. The hypothesis of a possible divergence between such representations and the magazine's editorial profile was raised, since the relationship between canons and classics with the present is very different from that practiced by the magazine's cultural journalism, strongly linked to the releases of the editorial market and, in this sense, with an air of novelty and/or transgression. The analysis of 14 selected productions was carried out by the definition of three axes of analysis, bearing in mind Giorgio Agamben's concepts of sacralization and profanation. Despite the diversity in the ways of constructing the narratives, linking works to contemporary issues, it was concluded that there is a predominance of sacralization in the magazine, keeping the canons in their prominent place, without major criticism or innovations in their representations.

Keywords: Literary canon; Literary Review; Cultural journalism; Quatro Cinco Um magazine; Publishing Market.