Banca de QUALIFICAÇÃO: PEDRO GABRIEL VANDERLEI HERACLIO DO REGO

Pedra Bonita and Cangaceiros: banditry and popular songbook

Banditry; Cangaço; José Lins do Rego; Memory, String Literature

This study aims to analyze aspects of cangaço in Pedra Bonita and Cangaceiros, novels written by José Lins do Rego, as well as the influence of string or “cordel” literature from the early twentieth century the author had in their production. For that, we collected a historiographical, sociological and biographical bibliography regarding cangaço, of which, the studies carried out by Frederico Pernambucano de Mello and Élise Grunspan Jasmin. Posteriorly, the analyses of testimonials, documents and depositions of social actors related to cangaço. Studies on memory, trauma and violence, including those carried out by Aleida Assmann and Ecléa Bosi, will provide interpretative support for the testimonials and depositions, specifically related to characters from Pedra Bonita and Cangaceiros, besides literary theory studies of authors such as Fredric Jameson and Terry Eagleton. With regard to data collection related to cordel literature and popular troubadour chansons, mainly those focused on cangaço, we relied on specific bibliography about oral poetry and cordel and string literature, such as the surveys carried out by Luís da Câmara Cascudo, Paul Zumthor and Márcia Abreu. Collection of the bibliography of João Martins de Athayde and cordel authors. Influence of cordel literature in the literary production of Pedra Bonita and Cangaceiros, as well as the influence from other novels. Influence of cordel literature in the media about banditry, besides the influence of classical poetry. Comments of José Lins do Rego about the production of these novels. The changes of the author’s perspective about the rural banditry subject will be profoundly scrutinized and analyzed. The critical fortune about José Lins do Rego, observing older and recent studies, such as those conducted by José Aderaldo Castello and Sônia Lúcia Ramalho Farias, also essays of the author regarding the banditry subject, which also include comments about the process of production of the two novels. The literary and theoretical background that would have inspired the production of the novels will be assessed, such as those written by Tristão Alencar de Araripe Júnior, Antônio Áttico de Souza Leite and Carlos Dias Fernandes, following the preexisting analyses with the proposition of potential influences that are still not approached by the criticism. The Reader-response criticism is used to reinforce the apprehension of such conceptualizations as real, fictive and imaginary.