Tentative Transgressions

"Brazilian theater has been a privileged stage for the playing out of divergent approaches to difference and transgression apparent in Brazilian culture. Severino Albuquerque analyzes the theatrical portrayal of transgression in Brazil throughout the twentieth century and examines how gay imagery was affected by the modernist movement and other cultural forces. Following changing theatrical motifs through the decades, Albuquerque shows how the theater could indulge in otherwise silenced ideas and representations of deviation from social norms. In Brazil, as in much of the world, AIDS is a prominent metaphor for any infringement on what is considered normal - linking sex, race, class, and politics. Albuquerque illustrates how theater became an invaluable player in the effort to associate art and education, entertainment and civics, drama and activism."--BOOK JACKET.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of LGBTQ+, Nonfiction, Fiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.