This article is part of the thesis "Una identidad para los apátridas", which the author presented to get his Master’s Degree in Literature. It explores the topic of the Brazilian national identity in relationship with exile in Nélida Piñon’s historical novel La república de los sueños. This identity question issue, for which answers have been found in the concept of nation in Latin American literature, follows this clue but focuses on a contemporary way of understanding it. Literature fiction with historical speech answers for an idea of nation that breaks traditional categories.