“That sort of national identity is not really something I am concerned with now. I was concerned with it at the time because there was a sense of urgency that was extremely intense and as a young artist I felt I had to respond. Also, to reduce that work only to the politics of national identity would be erroneous: the literary aspect of that project was also very important, and that was informed by contexts beyond the politics of Brazil. I even don’t really like the term “national identity.” It just so happens that — by geographic accident, as is always the case — you happen to be born somewhere and when you open your eyes you do that in a particular context.”