O espaço catastrófico em os Corumbas, de Amando Fontes

Abstract

This dissertation presents a study on the spatial interfaces in the novel Os Corumbas (1933), by the Sergipe-born writer Amando Fontes, which addresses spatial oppression and the conflicts faced by a migrant family seeking better living conditions in the industrial zone of Aracaju during the first half of the twentieth century. From a social perspective, this work aims to investigate how catastrophic space is configured in the novel, taking into account the misfortunes that gradually befall the Corumbas family, who succumb to the oppressive space of modernization as they witness their daughters being driven into prostitution: Rosenda, after believing the promises of Cabo Inácio, who abandons her in Simão Dias; and Albertina, after being left to her fate by Dr. Fontoura. The family’s last hope for a dignified life, Caçulinha, becomes the Political Chief’s lover after being deflowered by her fiancé Zeca, falling into depression, and seeking justice at the police station. From a theoretical standpoint, this study draws on theories of space—human, geographic, and literary—found in the works of Milton Santos (2006), Luís Alberto Brandão (2013), Yi-Fu Tuan (2013), Osman Lins (1976), and Joseana Souza Fonsêca (2022), as well as on discussions of the historical context of the 1930s developed by Luís Bueno (2006) and Durval Muniz de Albuquerque Junior (2011). The objective is to examine the relationship between characters and the various subjective spaces that traverse Fontes’s work, from life in the Sergipe Agreste region to the city of Aracaju—industry, the proletariat, women, men, work, and leisure. Finally, in line with the main research proposal, the study analyzes, based on established spatial categories, the interaction between the condition of the Corumbas family and the social adversities encountered both in the hinterland and in the city. The dissertation is divided into three chapters: the first revisits the debate on space in literature; the second addresses issues related to open space; and the third analyzes the closed spaces in Fontes’s novel.