“A menina suverteu-se” : os sentidos da ausência em "Perpetinha: um drama nos babaçuais", de Carmo Bernardes

Abstract

This research named “The girl has vanished: the significances of absence in the novel Perpetinha: um drama nos babaçuais, by Carmo Bernardes (1915-1996)” has been developed as a project in Literature and Interculturality for master degree at POSLLI/UEG. Its purpose was to verify why the character Perpetinha is absent from most of the plot novel, as well as to reflect upon the impact of this absence that builds tension and conflict over the structure of the fiction. All the other characters that appear in the different narrative plans of the novel, such as the ones that are inspired by real historical figures and indigenous people, were also examined. So, it became possible to identify the lack of Perpetinha with the representation of the absence of some other characters, be they indigenous or historic. This research is divided in three chapters: (1) the description of biobibliography and critical fortune of the author Carmo Bernardes; (2) the disclosure of novel-anatomy; (3) the study of the significance of Perpetinha’s absence from most of the plot and how this literary strategy impacts the narrative. In this way, Carmo Bernardes’s work can be examined with an approach still not undertaken by academic studies, that considers the absence of Perpetinha and also of indigenous characters, as well as the interpenetration of social aspects that stand out the relationship between indigenous and non-indigenous characters. It is qualitative descripted research of interdisciplinary and bibliographic purposes based mainly on the Literary theories of Antonio Candido (1989, 2004, 2021, 2023), Alfredo Bosi (2021, 2022), Carlos Reis (2018), Giorgio Agamben (2009), Gérard Genette (1972, 1995, 2006) and Edward Morgan Forster (2005), but were also considered the other researches about Carmo Bernardes’s work, as well as studies from scholars of different areas, such as Roberto Damatta (2023) and Patrícia de Mendonça Rodrigues (2013, 2015). The conclusion is that Perpetinha, despite her absence, is the main character of the novel, so that the traditional model of protagonism can be challenged.