Abstract
The experiences experienced by men in modernity transform literary narratives, thematically and formally, establishing the aim to use allegory as an explanatory stage of that new reality. In the book The Origin of German Tragic Drama, by Walter Benjamin, he conceives allegory as the revelation of a hidden truth that does not represent things just as they are, but provides a version of how they were or might have been. As a reflection of the principles implied in that reading, this paper takes Benjamin's allegory as an analytical category aiming at identifying the representation of violence in the short story A hora e a vez de Augusto Matraga (The Hour and Turn of Augusto Matraga), by Guimaraes Rosa. Our analysis opens a dialogue with the dialectical perspective, in which social-historical conditioning factors contribute to understand Minas Gerais backlands, whose ethos supplies a perception of the world incorporated by Guimaraes Rosas' poetics, widening the view of a violent and enchanting world.
Highlights
The act of rethinking the circumstances in which literature establishes as a foundation for the comprehension of the world and for the structuration of the spiritual life of men has been attracting an increasing number of supporters
As an answer to a movement that relativizes its importance as a way towards the formation of ethical, moral and aesthetic values, Antoine Compagnon reminds that it is proper of literature to contribute to the selfawareness of the individual and of his or her social relations
Since the act of experiencing the reading of literary texts comprises the apprehension of imagination, beliefs and emotions, it encompasses a movement of learning, an unreplaceable knowledge surrounded by singularities, which reaches in a peculiar manner those who engage in it
Summary
The act of rethinking the circumstances in which literature establishes as a foundation for the comprehension of the world and for the structuration of the spiritual life of men has been attracting an increasing number of supporters. The broad resonance achieved by Rosa’s narratives led us to reflect about the pertinence of having them as object of study, electing A hora e a vez de Augusto Matraga (The Hour and Turn of Augusto Matraga) to be analyzed in this article, because the narrative is deemed as one of the most inventive and original works of the Brazilian literature More than arbitrary, this choice mirrors the interpretative richness allowed for by the story, full of social, political, economic and religious questions, always liable of new framings. Selflessness and charity purge the evil deeds practiced in the past, sins that only the faith in God could redeem This surrender to religious contemplation ceases when Nhô Augusto is tempted by life and death drives, declining the monastic values that used to lead him. The once lost impetus and will return, preparing him for the revenge against Major Consilva, when death seals the fate that was waiting for him, embedded in the blood that brought about his liberation
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