The Formação, Today – An Analytic Hypothesis, Some Blind Spots, and Its Strength”

Abstract

This essay proposes a critical interpretation of the concept of formation, which is central in the work of Antonio Candido. The concept is analyzed in terms of its connections to the notion of nationality, and it is argued that there are two significant moments in the author’s treatment of the national theme. In the first of them, prior to 1964, formation is seen as dependent on the validation of the thesis of modernism, and is thus limited by certain blind spots, here described. These blinds spots, however, do not invalidate the idea of formation, which remains useful for describing cultural processes in certain peripheral areas of Western civilization.