A portrait without a wall: the novel Bom Crioulo, by Adolfo Caminha

Abstract

This paper aims to discuss the importance of reading the novel Bom Crioulo, by Adolfo Caminha, at the present time. Published in 1895, it was a scandal for the society of the time and it somehow continues to be a polemical work in the Brazilian cultural scenario. Recently considered to be the first Brazilian novel to have a gay protagonist, Bom Crioulo calls our attention to a series of other absences in our literature — not only the literature of the nineteenth century, but also the one from our days that, generally speaking, does not provide much opportunity for characters such as Amaro.