Coups of Memory: Political Usages of Olavo Bilac in the Course of the 20th Century

Abstract

This paper aims to provide an overview of political operations that framed the social memory of famous Brazilian poet Olavo Bilac over the 20th century. It will start by showing an image that Bilac sought to bequeath to his audience through his last texts, talks and public acts, strongly associated with his engagement in the civic campaign for compulsory military service. Subsequently, the focus will be on the most meaningful appropriations of his thinking and opinions in order to examine the overlapped senses that persons and groups from a broad range of ideological positions ascribed to them at critical moments of Brazilian political history in the 20th century. Finally, some of the convergences and discrepancies between major components of Bilac´s late endeavors of selfrepresentation and those assigned to him in subsequent times will be analyzed.