Conservative intellectuals, sociability and practices of immortality: the Brazilian Academy of Letters during the military dictatorship (1964-1979)

Abstract

This article is part of a broader study about the Brazilian Academy of Letters under the military regime (1964-1979) and the behaviour of its members during this period. The central question that guided this research was to determine to what extent this officially “apolitical” institution could serve as an instance of legitimacy to the dictatorship. The aim of this paper is to look at politics through what I am referring to as “practices of immortality”. This research is interested in whether the “House of Machado de Assis”, through its supposedly apolitical daily activities, contributed in some degree to legitimizing the regime implemented in 1964. The inaugurations, the visits received by the academics and the way an official memory was drafted by the “immortals” are examined in this paper. The results revealed a close relation between the Brazilian Academy of Letters and the military dictatorship evidenced by the recruitment of its members and their social networks. They also show that the political, military, and cultural elites shared values that were remembered and praised in the events of the Brazilian Academy of Letters: civility and patriotism; the idea of an “authentic culture” and a national identity based on a common language and on the Christian religion; as well as myths such as the warmth of the Brazilian people and the absence of violence in the country’s history. Besides being a place where a conservative discourse was developed and where conservative men and ideas circulated, these cultural institution was associated to the military dictatorship by the “immortals” and, consequently, to a supposedly “national” memory, culture, and identity.

Keywords: military dictatorship, Brazilian Academy of Letters, conservative intellectuals.