The most outstanding section of this text is the second part of the work, introduced by Joaquim Cardoso “Prefácio-Testemunho dos Aspectos Sócio-Culturais.” Only two chapters from the book are reproduced here. In the seventh chapter “Aspectos Culturais,” Souza Barros identifies the agents of cultural renewal, presenting various ways of organizing art media. The writer also offers his comments on both aesthetic and ideological issues that arose in the 1920s. He highlights the case of São Paulo, questioning those who proposed Mário de Andrade’s plan for “modernism” as if he were a Futurist, in spite of the importance that critic attributed to popular culture and folklore. Barros alludes to the regional renewal proposed by the sociologist Gilberto Freire, which would bear fruit only after the first Congresso Afro-Brasileiro, in Recife. This was an essay that would revive the reading of traditionalist aspects of the culture.
The eighth chapter, “O papel da imprensa e sua renovação,” points out the role exercised by Revista do Norte, with diagrams and drawings by Manuel Bandeira. Moreover, it emphasizes everything that refers to the Livro do Nordeste (in the edition published to commemorate the centenary of the Diário de Pernambuco). Souza Barros even emphasizes the launching of Ascenso Ferreira’s book Catimbó, published by Revista do Norte, linking the poet with that journal.
