Between denunciation and fatalism: nature, society and “sertanejos-retirantes” in the literature that evokes the Northeast of the droughts
Entre a denúncia e o fatalismo: natureza, sociedade e sertanejos-retirantes na literatura que evoca o Nordeste das secas
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36920/esa-v28n3-4Abstract
There is an agreement about the role of literature in Brazil in the assimilation of the European sociological contributions in the end of 19th century, particularly the influence of social Darwinism and Determinism on the discussions about race and context. The movement known as regionalist literature was deeply influenced by these themes. This paper aims to reflect on the works of this literary movement, whose authors dedicated themselves to the theme of drought in Northeast Brazil, pointing to some of its repercussions on the construction of an alleged Northeastern identity. The paper is divided in two parts. The first deals with the idea of the Northeast as a constructed region and the emersion of drought as a social calamity. In the second part, the drought in the regionalist novel is discussed, highlighting the discursive elements that express social relations in cities that acted as “receptors” of rural populations during drought periods. It concludes that these novels had a denunciative role, but they rarely reflect the reactions of the political subjects. They therefore contribute with the reproduction of old images as symbols that stigmatize identity and political actions much more related to permanence than to change.
Keywords: regionalist literature; Northeast; drought images.
How to cite
COSTA, Liduina Farias Almeida da. Entre a denúncia e o fatalismo: natureza, sociedade e sertanejos-retirantes na literatura que evoca o Nordeste das secas. Estudos Sociedade e Agricultura, Rio de Janeiro, v. 28, n. 3, p. 571-593, out. 2020. DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.36920/esa-v28n3-4.
Received on August 1, 2020. Accepted on August 28, 2020.
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