Espaços e lugares transitórios em isabel do sertão, de luís jardim e a beata Maria do Egito, de Rachel de Queiroz

Abstract

The aim of this MA Thesis is to analyze the notion of place/space in two drama texts: Isabel do Sertão (1959), by Luís Jardim (1901-1987), from Pernambuco, and A beata Maria do Egito (1958), Rachel de Queiroz, from Ceará, in in the Northeast of Brazil. The work is divided into four chapters following the theatrical jargon: the first one (Prologue) introduces a brief history of theatrical art in Brazil, followed by examples of how canonical writers in Brazilian Literature describe the semiarid region at the time of publication of the plays that compose the corpus of this thesis. Next chapter (First Act) presents the way that Jardim and Queiroz refer to the caatinga and savanna (cerrado) regions in their stories. This discussion follows interdisciplinary aspects of ecocriticism (GIFFORD, 2009), and feminism (ORTNER, 2017; BRANDÃO, 2003). The notion of space/place is also seen according to the Foucaultian concept of heterotopia (2009), alongside Augé’s notion of non-place (1994), and other feminist developments (BRANDÃO, 2011a) on the theme so as to present possible readings of the scenery where the characters created by Jardim and Queiroz wander in search of an identity that would save their lives from meaninglessness. Jardim and Queiroz have different points of view about the semiarid area, but both build protagonists who are aware of their rights as human beings, always fighting for their places/spaces in a patriarchal society that tries to submit both to sexist rules. The two women find strength inside themselves to deal with this challenge, they develop affection places where previously they only have non-places: the road becomes Isabel’s house and Maria’s body, locked in a jail, is her shelter.