Abstract
The article discusses the ideas of Afonso Arinos de Melo Franco using his travel reports to highlight a not very much explored aspect in the bibliography, which is its dialogue with modernism and its relationship with the national culture. The trips will be the ones that Arinos held at the beginning of 1920s in Europe and one made in 1936 to Ouro Preto. The first one is strongly influenced by the expectation of his father to complete his education through to an experience which would be able to provide him a greater intimacy with the classical culture. However, in Ouro Preto, instead of rediscovering a unique brand of Brazilian traditions, what is perceived in the narrative of Afonso Arinos is the idea of an exchange between classical culture and national traditions, pointing to a situation in which the local and the universal seem to be articulated in a particularly happy way.
Keywords
Afonso Arinos de Melo Franco; Travel; Subjectivity; Sociality; Cultural patrimony