Resumo

TABOADA, Hernán G. H.. The Classics among the Latin American Common People. Nova tellus [online]. 2012, vol.30, n.2, pp.205-219. ISSN 0185-3058.

The reference to Classics as the basis of Latin American culture has been one of the strategies of legitimacy of the Creole classes. The result was a range of very hieratic and unconvincing official or elite discourses, translated from bourgeois Europe. Another consecuence of the said propaganda was the acceptance of Classical legacy by plebeian groups that, in fact, belonged to different cultural traditions (as can be seen in personal names, popular poetry and other fields). However, it seems that Latin American masses were able to see beyond the Creole elites, and guessing in their remake an image of Antiquity truer than the one offered by the official culture.

Palavras-chave : Latin American culture; classical Tradition; popular culture.