Misplaced ideas? Studies about some possibilities of extrapolating Roberto Schwarz’s thesis to other times and spaces

Abstract

The article reviews the initial trajectory of Roberto Schwarz’ “misplaced ideas” thesis, with the purpose of addressing two issues that are derived from it – first, whether the thesis can be regarded as a historiographic paradigm, capable of informing a history of literature (in Brazil but also elsewhere); second, to identify the thesis limits, considering the current debate in Brazilian historiography, which departs from the views of Brazilian history that animated the Schwarzian creation, especially the view of Caio Prado Júnior. The article finishes with a synthesis of the original thesis, from a new angle, and a synthesis of the limits that were detected in the thesis, which contradict the generalizing (“universalizing”) vocation of the thesis and are center of the difficulties of the generalizability of the “misplaced ideas” thesis beyond the Brazilian 19th century.