Landscapes of the past: Proustian influences in the memoirist novels of Jorge Andrade, Cyro dos Anjos and Pedro Nava

• Grant number: 18/10413-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: October 01, 2018
• End date: August 31, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Literature - Comparative Literature
• Principal Investigator: Alexandre Bebiano de Almeida
• Grantee: Fillipe Augusto Galeti Mauro
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 19/21664-0 - Proust au Brésil: appropriations et transferts de l'esthétique proustienne dans les romans de Jorge Andrade, Cyro dos Anjos et Pedro Nava, BE.EP.DR 19/13251-8 - Paysages du passé: appropriations de l'esthétique proustienne dans les romans mémorialistes de Jorge Andrade, Cyro dos Anjos et Pedro Nava, BE.EP.DR

Abstract

This research project proposes a comparative analysis between two novels of French writer Marcel Proust (Du côté de chez Swann and À l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs) and three other Brazilian memoirist novels from the 70's: Baú de Ossos, by Pedro Nava (1972), Labirinto, by Jorge Andrade (1978) and A Menina do sobrado, by Cyro dos Anjos (1979). All three are known for showing a genuine enthusiasm for the aesthetic model developed by Proust and his notion of memory. There are repeated and explicit references to the Recherche in the novel Labirinto, as well as in drama and journalistic works of Jorge Andrade. In several letters to his friend, the Brazilian poet Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Cyro dos Anjos considers himself "devoted" to the proustian literature. Finally, the narrator of Pedro Nava's Baú de ossos states that "everyone has his Madeleine" and "each of us has already been kidnapped for a while by the petit Marcel". Such a literary context, with plenty of memoirist works and so heavily influenced by readings of the proustian novel, suggests several questions. Through a comparison between the way Proust and each one of these Brazilian writers represent their youth remembrances on countryside landscapes such as Combray and Balbec (but also Barretos, Santana do Rio Verde and Juiz de Fora), we expect to determine how close (or different) are their notions of memory and also find out which economic, social or cultural factors in the 70's could have favoured a greater dissemination of memoirist and proustian novels in Brazil. (AU)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

MAURO, Fillipe Augusto Galeti. Às margens do Vivonne: o estilo de Marcel Proust nos romances de Pedro Nava, Jorge Andrade e Cyro dos Anjos. 2022. Doctoral Thesis - Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH/SBD) São Paulo.