Citizenship and Crisis in Contemporary Brazilian Literature considers how recent literary texts address the socio-economic and political transformations that Brazil has undergone since its 1985 transition to democracy. Leila Lehnen proposes that contemporary Brazilian literature is informed by the country's struggle and that literary production has created fictional and material spaces of agency for historically disenfranchised communities. Ultimately, this important study broaches how literature reveals the socio-cultural tactics employed by marginalized subjects and communities in their struggle for full-fledged citizenship.

Considering how literary texts address the transformations that Brazil has undergone since its 1985 transition to democracy, this study proposes that Brazilian contemporary literature is informed by the struggle for social, civil, and cultural rights and that literary production has created spaces for historically disenfranchised communities.