Rio de Janeiro, Rubem Fonseca’s Dreamlike Metropolis

Abstract

The short story “A arte de andar nas ruas do Rio de Janeiro” by Rubem Fonseca reveals a dreamlike construction of the city of Rio de Janeiro that in some measure is similar to Baudelaire’s allegory by Walter Benjamin. For the author, the Paris of Baudelaire was a city in its climax of magnificence, but at the same time a city that was turning to its decay process. Similarly, Rubem Fonseca represents Rio de Janeiro as a dreamy and decadent metropolis, where figures such as the prostitute, the wanderer, and the flâneur can still exist, their own existence being an act of resistance and transgression.