Guimarães Rosa and James Joyce are very frequently compared due to the experimental nature of their work. This paper argues, however, that there are significant differences in their experimentalism and that Rosa engages in a long-standing tradition in Brazilian literature that explores and at the same time challenges the potentialities of regional culture. His work configures a dialectical interplay between erudite and popular sources, oral and written language, modern and traditional forms. The sertão – the backlands – as envisaged by him is shaped as a landscape which is both imaginary and real, concrete and symbolic, geographical and cultural.