A gente vira e desvira: arquivo, identidade e utopia em a terra dos meninos pelados, de Graciliano Ramos

Abstract

This dissertation offers an analysis of A terra dos meninos pelados, by Graciliano Ramos, his first work in children‘s literature. This study is established on two lines of investigation: the first one concerns the structural dimension of A terra dos meninos pelados, by approaching its position in the historical development of the archives for children‘s literature and also the analysis of its aesthetic components. The second investigative line concerns the theme of identity construction of the short story‘s protagonist, Raimundo. During this critical reading, I sought at first comprehend the traits of the genre in which the analysed story belongs, searching for its historical roots in the national outlook, with the theoretical input of the studies by Lajolo and Zilberman (1991). Thereafter, the attention is directed to the illustrations within the volume, understanding them as an indissoluble element for the narrative, in order to investigate the relation between words and pictures in the steering of the plot. For such, I resorted to the works of Linden (2018) and Nikolajeva and Scott (2011) on this particular enterprise. With basis on Propp (2002), I then turn the attention to the structure of the short story and its genetic connection with the archives of the folk tales, which Graciliano updates with his modern writing. In the course of this dialogue with the past, the perception arose of the affiliation of A terra dos meninos pelados with the tradition of utopian narratives, both in structure and recurring motifs. The whole of this itinerary made me look at Raimundo‘s identity construction in its relation with otherness, in intersection with utopia, not as the dream of an ideal place, but of being/standing in the world with dignity towards the other. Therefore, in the final part of this dissertation, I read the story under the lenses of the concepts of identity, otherness and utopia, with support on Ciampa (2005) and Bloch (2005),whose substrate confirms the ethical commitment with the values which safeguard humanism on the part of the writer from Alagoas.