Padrões culturais controversos em Amar, verbo intransitivo, de Mário de Andrade

This article aims to stress the contribution of Amar, verbo intransitivo to Mário de Andrades’s comprehension of Brazilian culture. Beyond the specific intention of the novel, the suggestion is to use Nietzsche’s Unfashionable Observations as a hermeneutic tool to highlight the satire against the Brazilian bourgeoisie. The mediocre feature of the German protagonist revealed by the approximation of the two texts suggests a paradox with the other characters’ reverential attitude towards her, thus unveiling a controversial universe of values and paradigms and contributing to understand the novel’s significance in Andrade’s whole production. This uncritical devotion towards foreign cultural patterns gives a tragicomic image of a ridiculous but powerful middle class.