Conceição Evaristo and the configurations of a poor bildungsroman.

Abstract

The publication of the novel Ponciá Vicêncio (2003) coincides with some propositions of legal bases in theare a of education and culture, coming to light in the decade 1995-2005. First, I start from this contextual analysis toread Conceição Evaristo's novel as a parody proposal to the Eurocentric Bildungsroman model. This narrative breaks with the bourgeois tradition of this literary genre. Afterall, she is a black writer, telling the story of the childhood, youth, and maturity of a black, peripheral, poor woman – andunlike in the novel of tradition al formation – whose life experience does not account for exemplary personal victories worthy of pride. Ponciá Vicêncio is protagonist in her project of living in the city, the defeat not only as a woman and wife, but also as a mother. So, what does this anti-novel of formation wants? Starting from Duarte studies (2006, 2011), Maas (2000), Woodward (2000) and Schmidt (2009),I take as a basis the analysis of Bildungin the contemporary literature of black authorship, in order to answer this question. I relate the implications between the concepts of formation and identity, using Afrocentrism in the perspective of Nogueira Júnior (2010) and Nascimeto (2016).These theoretical positions are contextualized and aim to collaborate in the configuration of a black Bildung and its literary expression.