Graça no dessossego : nas veredas da comicidade e do riso

Abstract

In Grande sertão: veredas (1956) the serious tone of the narrative is mixed with the appearance of comic elements that, although sparse, are part of the structure of the narrative. This study shows how manifestations of comedy appears in this novel, such as procedures, techniques, comic structures, jokes, as well as the representation of laughter, by Guimarães Rosa, connecting these elements to the plot. To do so, it starts from a theoretical review on the comic and the laughable in Aristóteles (2008), Bergson (2007), Freud (1977), Jolles (1976), Propp (1992), Minois (2003), as well as critical discussions of Candido (1990), Galvão (1986), Nunes (2013), Utéza (1994) and Hansen (2000). In addition, the function performed by the comic processes present in this narrative allows us to understand the role of comicity in its different forms in the Rosa’s novel. Thus, it is possible to discuss relations between the serious and the comic tone, and the constant relieving of tensions. The Rosa’s linguistic re-creations, according to Freud's discussions (1977), create pleasure in times of tension, bringing relief on, which allows not only the reader to continue reading, but also that the narrative, although dense due to the tensions of jagunços’ battles, flows with moments of distension. Yet the functionality goes beyond that: the relativization of values and behaviors that rethink the usual logic of the world may be the most recurrent. In this case, according to this study, the comic derives from a reversal of cultural logic and contributes to the overcoming of metaphysical concerns through laughter.