Brazilian literature is inherently linked to the country?s history. Having come into being under the shadow of colonialism and its prescribed perspectives, Brazil has been in an ongoing struggle to find a meaningful and inclusive national identity, while withstanding political upheavals and oppressive regimes, themselves the stuff of literature. The literary expression that has emerged from this country is not only a product of its history, but also a way to reflect upon this history, to form and reform it, and to give it meaning.

In recent years, Brazilian literature has been receiving increasing popular and critical attention by English readership, but is still remarkably little known and studied when compared with Spanish American literature.  Portuguese is not as widely taught and spoken in the United States as Spanish, and the available English translations of Brazilian works have been inconsistent with the wealth of works produced by Brazilian authors. It is interesting that in Brazil, too, the majority of prose, poetry and reference books consumed by Brazilians are foreign, and translated into Portuguese.

Brazil?s production and consumption of national literature has been, since its beginning, intrinsically linked with and affected by its colonizing nations. The use of the printing press was prohibited in colonial Brazil, unlike in Spanish America where printing presses were established early in the colonial period. Books, manuscripts, newspapers and magazines all had to be sent to be printed in Portugal.  Universities, too, were lacing in Brazil during this period. The first Brazilian university was founded in 1932, long after independence, and until then higher education was available only in Coimbra, Portugal.

When the court moved to Rio de Janeiro, in 1808, Prince Don Joao brought the first printing press to the colony, and established European-style cultural institutions, such as the National Library, an orchestra and a theater. The Brazilian elite idealized European aesthetics, causing a proliferation of foreign literature in the country and encouraging Brazilian authors to adopt European literary styles and classical forms.

And yet, distinctly Brazilian themes and cultural contexts were developed and described. These themes include Indianism, Regionalism, and the Social Novel, as it relates to social issues particular to Brazil. Indianism is a term used for the romantic depiction of Native Americans. In Brazilian literature the natives are often portrayed as ?noble savages,? and idealized in the role of innocent victims of conquest as well as representatives of the new and ?true? Brazilians. Regionalist literature refers to literature dealing with a specific region, its customs, characters, dialect, history, or topography. A common theme in Brazilian literature is that which deals with the Sertão region, the arid plains in the interior of Brazil?s Northeast, set apart from the more populated coastal areas. The social novel in Brazilian literature often deals with themes of social and racial injustice, realism, ethnic and national identities.

Film was first introduced to Brazil in the late 19th century, when visitors from Europe filmed the exotic landscape. Silent films became popular throughout the country as reliable electricity grew regularly available.

Most films made in Brazil in the early 20th century were by European directors and production companies. With the influence of the French New Wave in the 1960s, however, directors like Glauber Rocha and Nelson Pereira dos Santos rejected what they considered a colonizer’s view of the country and used the new modernist form of cinema to create personal stories portraying the role of poverty, violence, religion, and family in Brazilian culture.