A Poética da decadência : estudo de O coronel e o lobisomem, de José Cândido de Carvalho

Abstract

O coronel e o lobisomem (The Colonel and the werewolf) recreates the world of rural activity in the countryside of Rio de Janeiro and presents a fictional account of the memoirs of Colonel Ponciano de Azeredo Furtado. Organized into thirteen chapters, the theme of the second novel by José Cândido de Carvalho is the decline of the rural way of life against the increase in urbanization. Within the same subject there are other works such as Angústia (Anguish) by Graciliano Ramos, O Amanuense Belmiro (The amanuensis Belmiro) by Cyro dos Anjos; Coivara da Memória (Kindling for the Memory) by Francisco J. C. Dantas; and Banguê (Bier) by José Lins do Rego. Those writers knew how to combine form and content to discuss a social and historical vision of Brazil within a rigorous formulation of language. And they present a decadent narrator that has death hanging around and is roaming between the rural world - in which he or his family were large landowners - and the urban world - fraught with bureaucrats and marked by degradation. This analysis will defend that the subject of decay pervades the whole work of José Cândido de Carvalho, but reaches its pinnacle in O coronel e o lobisomem (The Colonel and the werewolf) and thus characterizes the plot of José Cândido de Carvalho as plots of decadence. Ergo, the main aim of this paper is to analyze the novel in order to discuss the driving forces that propel its topic. In an attempt to reveal the ways in which the author determines this subject, we will address the roles played within the narrative, in the first place, the reason for the death; then the persistent duel between the countryside and the city, which in turn represents the tradition and the renewal; and finally, the cultural, popular and fantastic elements that pervade the text. And besides that, we will try to insert the romance into the literary scenario and reveal what were the main contributions left by O coronel e o lobisomem (The Colonel and the werewolf) in Brazilian fiction.