National drama: the construction of an idea in the 19th century

This article intends to analyze the construction of the idea of "national drama" forged by the literary men of the Court during the first decades of the Brazilian Empire and was used as a parameter to measure the quality and/or originality of pieces that occupied the Brazilian stages in the decades 1870 to 1890. The purpose is to understand the parameters used by the critics of the slight drama, very active from the arrival of gender in Brazil, which received its spread as the ruin of the "national drama". Besides identifying a broadening of the meaning of the term along time was observed that different types of subjects involved in the theatrical world have appropriated the term, giving it their own meanings.