Allegories of the absurd

reflections on the grotesque in the short stories “Copacabana” and “Anos de chumbo”, by Chico Buarque

Abstract

This work is about the short stories “Copacabana” and “Anos de chumbo”, by Chico Buarque, both published in the book Anos de chumbo (2021). The objective is to demonstrate how the two texts can be read as allegories of the absurd with regard to Brazil during the period of the civil-military dictatorship. The approach focuses on literary figuration, although, at times, it is necessary to expose political and historical aspects relevant to the analysis. The study is organized into four parts: Introduction, Relationship between fiction and history, Considerations on the absurd and the grotesque and Final considerations. The research methodology adopted consists of bibliographic and documentary review. The theoretical-critical basis is centered on authors such as Célia Fernández Prieto, Mikhail Bakhtin, Wolfgang Kayser and Albert Camus. The investigation points to the incorporation of aesthetic concepts, such as the grotesque, and philosophical concepts, such as absurdism, by fiction, as well as intertextuality with historical elements. It is observed that, based on oneirism and memorialistic narrative, Chico Buarque creates strategies of displacement in relation to reality. In doing so, it projects the national dilemma onto the domestic environment. These displaced elements are put back together in a puzzle to produce the allegory. In this sense, it can be said that both the short story “Copacabana” and “Anos de chumbo” contain absurd elements.