Abstract
In this combination chronicle, novel, and autobiographical account, written in two stages, two voices can be heard: that of Novo as an adolescent, in awe of the big city, optimistic and enthusiastic about literature, and that of the writer as he began to mature. Witnessing the gradual rebirth of the capital after the violence of the Revolution enabled him to understand the city's cultural importance as somewhere suitable for the creation of an individual, contemporary literature that would offer an alternative to what was already emerging as the national culture.