Literary realism and the synthesis of Bernardo Carvalho

The following article aims at drawing a brief outline both of realism in literature as well as of its repercussions within contemporary fiction. By resorting to the works of Jonathan Franzen and Tom Wolfe, on one hand, and of Roland Barthes and Maurice Blanchot on the other, it seeks to locate the perceived 'qualities' and 'defects' of literary realism according to the above-mentioned thinkers. Furthermore, it seeks to show how Bernardo Carvalho - through his collection of chronicles, O mundo fora dos eixos (2005) - synthesizes this Anglo-French discussion from a South American perspective.