O cortiço, de Aluísio Azevedo: determinismo e regionalidade

Abstract

This thesis aims at analyzing the novel O cortiço, by Brazilian writer Aluísio Azevedo, based on the concepts of Regionality and Determinism. The objective is to relate considerations on racial determinism, environment, history and regionality present in the work. The analysis seeks to establish how the nineteenth century’s deterministic concepts and the regionalities were represented and connected in the plot of the novel. It is known that the author, who was the main representative of the literary school of Naturalism in Brazil, imprinted on his artistic project much of the scientific conceptions in vogue in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. In addition, the novel, published in 1890, represents and was produced during an era of social change in Brazil, in which many important debates occurred, such as the abolition of slavery (which occurred in 1888), equality and the scientific differences between ethnic-racial profiles. It was the age of theories like Determinism, which was developed in Brazil by intellectuals such as Silvio Romero and Nina Rodrigues. The type of slums that named the novel in Portuguese became increasingly common due to the crescent number of freed and fleeing slaves in the late nineteenth century. Such areas also provided housing to people who did not afford to live elsewhere, regardless of the race. They were social spaces formed by miscegenation, something that was heavily debated among scientists regarding the development of the Brazilian population, especially based on racial criteria and scientific thoughts of the nineteenth century. In addition, these urban groupings were the birthplace of modern Brazilian slums, cities and regions; Thus, this work also deals with recent theoretical discussions about region and regionality, since Aluísio Azevedo’s fictional slum, although admittedly seeking to represent all of Brazil, clearly has specific traits of nations, ethnic groups and historical moments – regionalities.