Ten days ago, precisely on May 13, the Brazilian writer Lima Barreto would complete 140 years old, so this post is a tribute to him.The contemporaneity of his works make us to reflect about what is holding Brazil's potential. We all have to fight injustice, political exclusion, abuse of power, mediocrity in the governments, lack of good education for all, and corruption, as he did with his novels. This post is a summary of three articles. The first was published at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lima_Barreto file:///C:/Users/User/Downloads . The second was published at Texto%20do%20artigo-24923-1-10-20190417%20(1).pdf. The third was published https://bdtd.ibict.br/vufind/Record/UEL_e1653315e0addbe87fe934cf1ccaf3c5
Afonso Henriques de Lima Barreto (1881-1922) was a Brazilian novelist and journalist. A major figure in Pre-Modernism, he is famous for the novel Triste Fim de Policarpo Quaresma, a bitter satire of the first years of republica in Brazil. His father was a typographer, who had close connections to Afonso de Assis Figueiredo, the Viscount of Ouro Preto, Barreto's godfather. Barreto's mother died when he was very young, and he was subsequently sent to study at a private school. He entered the Escola Politécnica do Rio de Janeiro, but was forced to abandon it in order to take care of his brothers, since his father's mental health was starting to deteriorate. Barreto used to write for newspaper since 1902, but he achieved fame in 1905, writing a series of articles regarding the demolition of Castle Hill. In 1909 he published his first novel, Recordações do Escrivão Isaías Caminha, a scathing and semi-autobiographical satire of the Brazilian society. However, his masterpiece is generally considered to be Triste Fim de Policarpo Quaresma, which was published in 1911. During the last years of his life, Barreto was attacked by heavy bouts of depression, which led him to alcoholism and many visits to psychiatric hospitals. Barreto was a very satirical author. His favoured target of criticism was the perceived mediocrity of the Brazilian government and the commercial and military authorities. Barreto adopted a more simple style in his book which was more accessible to a majority of the Brazilian people. This provoked an increasing number of criticisms against the author, who was persecuted by the elite for his non-classical style. For the antagonists in his books, Barreto explores their hypocrisy, ignorance and indifference to the suffering of others. The Tragic Fate of Policarpo Quaresma, tells the story of Policarpo, a radical Brazilian patriot. His dream is to see Brazil as one of the world's most powerful nations. The story can be divided in three distinct parts. A collection of tales that Barreto published in newspaper during the period of 20 years, it tells the life of the people of Bruzundanga, an imaginary country that represents Brazil. In the book, tale by tale, Barreto tells of the corruption present in every sector of the nation's life. Barreto decided to create a new country to represent Brazil in order to escape from politician and any other authority's persecution. In fact, it is a great allegory to Brazilian famous personalities and public institutions. The objective of this research is to analyze the representation of the social context and values of the carioca society from the end of the 19th century in the novel "Sad End of Policarpo Quaresma" by Lima Barreto, especially because of the cult of appearances in the microcosm of the plot. As several critics have pointed out, such as Antonio Candido, one of the main concerns of Lima Barreto is the analysis of the society which he is inserted in. Policarpo Quaresma sought to subvert the social system, which afflicted him, by reading, studying and expressing indignation at the barriers imposed by a proud and flattering minority. This criticism is only possible by the contrast between the idealistic path of the main characters of both the work cited and its closest interlocutor. Through this research, it is intended to enphasize the importance of the work of Lima Barreto for the Brazilian Literature not only in social criticism and in the critical aspect of a society that lives by appearances but also in the contrast with extreme idealism and patriotism. The utopian thought has configured in Lima Barreto novels. It is assumed that the novelist had a posture of a revolutionary or utopian romanticism, according to the ideal types described by Michel Lowy, as evidenced in critical texts dissatisfaction with the current time, but it demonstrates hopes in the society transformation. Lima Barreto, to make these changes, used the literature, because for him, literature should not be only contemplative, but must also have a social function, with solidarity and human relations having the role of improving the social intercourse among citizens. He demonstrated a vision beyond his time. As the philosophers, according to Nietzsche's conception, represented the "misdeed awareness of his time." The study of Barreto's literature is relevant, since it enables reading on a critical sociological perspective, when searching in the structure of writer novels the utopic question. In addition, it was possible to review the criticism of his works, because that was broken down for many years, marginalized by literary scholars of that time who did not realize the modernity and richness of his texts. The analysis of Barreto's novels showed that utopian thought is present when the humanity feeling is revealing the injustices, the discrimination of the underpriviliged and the abuse of power. It was proved that the utopian thought is present in the fight against the exclusion of the underprivileged, in the representation of the underprivileged groups, in the presence of protagonists who failed, but had ideals of social transformation, as Policarpo Quaresma, Gonzaga de Sá, Clara dos Anjos. It was verified that, through literature, Lima Barreto tried to transform society so to be more fraternal, solidary and fair.
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