ABSTRACT
The chapter re-conceptualizes the avant-garde in the literary context, based on a reflection on the relationship of the Second Avant-Gardes with narratives regarding the past and memory. The chapter argues that the particular concern of the Second Avant-Gardes with past and memory is rooted in the transformed historical conditions in which they were immersed, that is, in the drastic reconfiguration of the relationships between South and North taking place in the post-WWII world. A process of re-ordering of the global cultural geography established a new balance between North and South, wherein the latter came to confront itself on equal terms with the North. The argument is based on the case study that exemplifies cross-cultural currents: concrete poetry. The analysis looks at the concern with memory and representations of the past that Brazilian and German concrete poets shared and argues that this element is significant to the reformulation of the very concept of avant-garde.
