Letra & imagem, gênero & paisagem: mulheres sertanejas entre história, literatura e fotografia.

Abstract

This study is based on the apparent nullity of the representation of what we call "backwoods women" in the classic Os Sertões (Rebellion in the Backlands) (1902), by Euclides da Cunha. Divided into three guiding axes (land, man, and struggle) and in consonance with the project of nation put into practice throughout the 19th century, the book does not discuss much about the participation of those who demonstrably made up the majority of Antônio Conselheiro's entourage, as well as the Arraial de Belo Monte. Given the paradigmatic character of Euclid's narrative about the Canudos conflict, later productions that also ventured to tell the story invariably had in Os Sertões (Rebellion in the Backlands) (1902) an indispensable informative and symbolic reference about the unfolding of the events of 1896-97, which would culminate in what is still today considered the greatest massacre in national history. Thus, understanding that contemporary re-readings regarding Canudos invariably had to deal with the narrative absence about gender diversity in that context, it was our goal to observe how two of these works, Mario Vargas Llosa's novel The War at the End of the World (1981) and Maureen Bisilliat's photographs edited in Sertões: Light and Darkness (1982) related to this narrative pattern envisioned by Euclid: Perpetuating it? Overcoming it? Re-elaborating it according to the demands of your time? Aspects such as the trajectory and previous production of the authors, a Peruvian and an English woman naturalized Brazilian, as well as the implications of the use of photographic support in its relationship with literature, will also be considered as important elements for the understanding of this thematic section.