Um inventário indiciário sobre Sérgio Buarque de Holanda e as “sementes” de Raízes do Brasil

Abstract

This dissertation analyzes the first edition of Roots of Brazil, published in 1936 by Sérgio Buarque de Holanda, as the inaugural work of the Brazilian Documents Collection, taking into account the influences of the historical-social context experienced by Sérgio Buarque and the production of articles before the publication of his princeps work. It was developed with the aim of making an indicative inventory and verifying the presence of ideas in excerpts from the work in the author's previous texts, specifically the texts “Originalidade Literária” (1920), “Lado oposto e outros lados” (1926) and “Corpo e Alma do Brasil” (1935). To this end, research was carried out based on the evidentiary paradigm developed by Carlo Ginzburg, whose texts were read and interpreted through a qualitative approach. A brief biography was written about Sérgio Buarque de Holanda, as a way of observing the influences of the historical-social context he experienced. Afterwards, the presence of Modernism in the Roots of was discussed, the possible factors that led to the choice of the essay by Sérgio Buarque de Holanda and a brief history of the founding of Livraria José Olympio. Finally, we discuss the choice of the first edition, published in 1936, as our documentary source, a brief analysis of the structure of the 1936 work and a reading of the author's previous texts in light of the first edition of Roots of Brazil. In view of this, we noticed the presence of ideas and even complete excerpts that the author later developed and used in his 1936 book, which allowed us to conclude that Sérgio Buarque had already been there, since his first text (“Originalidade Literária”) developing ideas that years later were deepened and consolidated in his classic book.