ABSTRACT
From approximately the beginning of the nineteenth century, Brazilian literature was dominated by romantic aesthetics, which helped establish a readership for distinctively Brazilian themes, Brazilian names, and, more importantly, anything which resembled a glorification of Brazilian nature. The fabrication of Brazilian symbols was not just a matter of literary concern, but more urgently of the formation of a national identity separate from that of the mother country. The literary production of the nation throughout the whole nineteenth century can be fairly characterized in terms of its derivation from European, especially French, models. The intellectual history of Brazil is highly determined by the fact that, unlike the other Spanish American countries, which had universities created in their territories as early as 1551, the creation of universities was forbidden by Portugal until after the arrival of the Portuguese court in Brazil.
