Brazilian National Character in the Twentieth Century

Abstract

National character appears differently to out siders and to insiders of the given nation being characterized. The present characterization of Brazilian character, because of frequent absences from Brazil and immersion in a variety of other cultures, adds the perspectives of the outsider to those of an insider long concerned with Brazilian identity. Other scholars have analyzed Brazilian character. Depending on which component of Brazil's complex nature they emphasized, whether, for example, they took the interior or the coast as pri mary, they have conceived of Brazil as essentially Dionysian or Apollonian. James Bryce, perhaps the most sensitive of all foreign students, placed emphasis on the coastal culture and saw Brazil as basically Apollonian. According to this latter approach, which is akin to the author's own, the core of Bra zilians' character comprises spiritual volition, adventurousness, and poetical vision, shared with an important segment of their Portuguese ancestors. However, this Old World heritage has undergone expansion, differentiation, and creative transmuta tion in the course of creative synthesis with New World ele ments. Since early days Brazilians have tended to harmonize idealism with response to reality, political independence with traditional political forms. In all areas of life in Brazil, the same polarity appears: in music, in architecture, even in its cuisine and its football. There is every reason to believe that this process of creative synthesis of old and new will continue as Brazil meets the future.