Mimesis as method: Erich Auerbach's contributions to literary criticism

Abstract

This paper presents the theoretical and methodological development of Erich Auerbach, having as its main, but not sole, basis his work in Mimesis. Taking into account the author's treatment of the relationship between literature and history, the question of "serious realism and, finally, the blunt criticism that, at numerous moments, the author gives to the problem of specialization and standardization of knowledge in his time, this article seeks to understand the contributions that the methodology of this philologist presents to contemporary literary criticism, as well as to expose the influences of his methodology on national critics, especially Antonio Candido.