Thinking about poetry today

An analysis of Alberto Pucheu’s literary criticism in the perspective of Theory’s Empire theoretical discussions

Abstract

This article seeks to discuss the situation of critical thinking about poetry in the 21st century, based on a theoretical reflection raised in the anthology: Theory’s Empire: An Anthology of Dissent (2005), organized by the authors Daphne Patai and Will Corral. In it, the organizers make a series of considerations about the current literary scenario, indicating the predominance of certain actions, practices and thoughts, among them, the prevalence of political issues and the valorization of the content before the structure or the language. For them, there would be some stagnation within the field of literary studies. Thus, we will contrast this view with the analysis of two texts: “Uma tese sobre a crítica literária brasileira” in which Alberto Pucheu, poet and critic, discusses the scenario of literary criticism in Brazil and “Do tempo de Drummond ao (nosso) de Leonardo Gandolfi: da poesia, da pós-poesia e do pós-espanto”, in which Pucheu effectively works as a poetry critic.