Nothing Human is Alien to Me: Carson McCullers and Isolation as a Narrative Principle

• Grant number: 24/08547-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate (Direct)
• Start date: March 01, 2025
• End date: February 29, 2028
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Literature - Literature Theory
• Principal Investigator: Marcelo Pen Parreira
• Grantee: Giovana de Proença Gonçalves
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This project proposes an analysis of the fiction of the American writer Carson McCullers. Our aim is to investigate the literary transfiguration of isolation, its formal resonances in the author's work, and how this narrative principle relates to the context of its production, the Southern United States in the first half of the 20th century. Our hypotheses seek to demonstrate how two elements are formally connected to the sense of isolation. They are: 1. the aesthetics of the grotesque, a fundamental means of character construction in McCullers' work; and 2. free indirect discourse, with its balance between subjectivity and detachment. From this, we arrive at the idea of juxtaposition, whether in the composition of characters or in the style of her works, which is based on musical compositions. By focusing our research on the work of a relatively understudied writer, we aim to expand our investigation to a section of 20th-century American literature, offering new perspectives on isolation as a theme and narrative principle, as well as on the Southern Literary Renaissance.