The Awakening of Black Consciousness in Modern Brazilian Literature: Based on the Novel “The Underside of the Skin” by Jefferson Tenorio

The article examines the reflection in modern Brazilian literature of the origin and development of the ideology of black identity, which had a significant impact on the transformation of the concept of national identity. The article analyzes the novel “The Flipside of the Skin” by Jefferson Tenório, one of the most successful works of fiction in recent years, which has caused a loud public discussion in Brazil, built around the concept of race and the phenomenon of racism. The novel combines the deeply personal story of a black intellectual living in the country’s “whitest” city of Porto Alegre, and a reflection on the awakening of black identity both in the protagonist and in society as a whole. The author focuses on human relationships — father and son, man and woman, but even they do not escape the influence of ideology, which determines not only the color of the skin, but also its flipside. The reception of the book by the readership demonstrates the ideological rift that has divided Brazilian society and is projected onto both the political sphere and the modern literary process.