“Just to have this book in my hands is already a challenge”: ‘oppositional books’ during the military regime, a case study

Abstract

Taking the way how the book Poemas do povo da noite (Poems of the people of the night) by Pedro Tierra was written and published alongside its political impact during the Brazilian Military Dictatorship (1964-1985), this article aims to analyze the oppositional books in the end of that regime (Abertura Política period, the opening of the political system). It implies analyses regarding to: 1) the content of the book; 2) the writing context; 3) the path from the original text to the publication; 4) the Author’s profile; 5) the Publishers’ profile; 6) Author and Publisher’s political liaisons; 7) the book’s diffusion; 8) the book’s impact on the political world and the press; 9) the analyze of the book as a editorial and commercial product. By investigating how these issues are present in this determined work, we can define whether the book can be considered an oppositional book in that period.