AMONG SHADOWS AND RUINS - THE GOTHIC SPACE IN "THE UNREPENTANT" OF ALUÍSIO AZEVEDO

Abstract

Aluisio Azevedo is commonly regarded as one of, if not the largest exponent of Naturalism in Brazil. The writer has become one of the most prolific of his generation, passing the novel, the theater, the tale and the chronic - is not always corresponding to the naturalistic model; one can say that part of his work is more associated with a Romanticism to some extent hybridized, feuilletonistic, than for any other trend in the nineteenth century. The tale that brings to analyze here is meant in its frame elements transplanted from some romantic ideals, especially those related to death, ghosts and fears which, in turn, directly or indirectly are heirs of Gothic. The primary focus of analysis is the question of space as an element Gothic reinterpreted and adapted to the situation of writing the end of the nineteenth century, as well as the national locus. It is known that, in the Gothic, the space works much more than a scenario where the plot unfolds, its constitution occurs as one of the elements that characterize the style, but also reveal some inner states of characters. The space in the text promotes a rehabilitation of the Gothic Middle Ages, not only from the architectural point of view, but also functioning as an evocation of myths, fears and terrors of what the man insists on staying.