A Retaguarda da Vanguarda: Modernidades contestadas em tres tempos: Bilac, Aranha e Lobato

This dissertation studies conservative modernism through the work of three Brazilian authors: Olavo Bilac, Graca Aranha and Monteiro Lobato. The three of them lived and were active between the 1890s and 1930s and were influential and controversial public figures during that period. Commonly criticized by the avant-garde modernists, their names remain associated with conservative and traditional views of modernity. I analyze how these three authors dialogued with the literary and journalistic circles and what kind of impact their works had when confronted with the avant-garde generation. I argue that some of their main ideas -- misconceived in their attempt to answer the dilemmas of Brazilian society at the time -- represented, nevertheless, an opportunity to think about the dialogue between high culture and popular culture, key elements of national identity used in the political discourse, and the role of the writer. These three central issues were tackled in the development and accommodation of modernity in the social and political discourse at that time.