'quarup': a deseducação do público

Abstract

Since it came out in 1967, Antonio Callado’s novel Quarupbecame a milestone in the Brazilian cultural setting and the public debate on the role of intelligentsia in response to the military coup of 1964. The oscillation between utopia and disenchantment has been noted in the book. However, research on its immediate reception shows that firstly the disenchanted side did not attract as much attention as the demand for political engagement of intellectuals, in the sense proposed by Jean-Paul Sartre. This article discusses this fact by analyzing some of the main aspects of the intellectual and political context of the novel’s publication.