A vida pelo avesso: um estudo das configurações da morte em A menina morta, de Cornélio Penna

Abstract

A menina morta(1970), a novel by the writer Cornélio Penna (1896-1958) was published in 1954 with is basic theme that of death. The story begins with the death of a girl, refered to throughout the narrative as the dead girl, and shows the sufferings of the characters caused by this loss. This study is developed starting out from this question: can literature serve to present, in an aesthetic manner, the images that can speak for themselves alone while science attempts to conceptualize with so many words? The hypothesis raised is that in this novel in a special way, it is possible to reflect on the psychic destruction of the inhabitants of the large farm called Grotão, a physical space where the narrative takes place, and that thinking of this morbid space shown in the work can give us evidence of the behavioral and psychic aspects of a human being faced with death whether it be biological or psychic. The justification for the suggestion of this hypothesis is that the psychic experience of destruction seems to consolidate itself going beyond the mere biological death girl, and revealing inclusively the characters that, as a result of this, show themselves as completely annihilated by the experience. In this sense, the general objective of the investigation is to reflect on the narrative atmosphere of the novel by an analysis of some of the characters, allowing a dialogue in a social and historical perspective and in a special way with psychoanalysis in relationship to the human being and to the reaction to death. It is important to situate the work in its historical and literary context, so as not to risk the classification of the work as a merely novel which is predominantly introspective. The methodology applied in the study is at the same time that of a exploratory, a bibliographical and hermeneutic criticism. Some basic theoretical sources give a foundation of the reflection on death in a social and historical perspective: the studies of Edgar Morin (1997) and of Philippe Ariés (2003), which rely on the psychological theory elaborated by Sigmund Freud (1996). These theories try to understand the human being as a subject when faced with death. To illustrate this psychic representation, the concepts of death drive and of melancholy, as legitimated by the psychoanalysis of Freud, are used. As regards to the melancholic affection, the studies developed by the authors Julia Kristeva (1989) and Marie-Claude Lambotte (1997) complete the reflection.