A ambivalência gótico grotesca e os românticos demônios de Aluísio Azevedo

Abstract

Aluísio Azevedo’s Demônios stands out from most of his work because it deals with elements that are not dear to the naturalist aesthetic of which the author was adept to. It is possible to observe that the literature of the end of the 19th century was strongly influenced by romantic aspects, especially its dark side: the Gothic (MELLO, 2018; SENA, 2017a). Since the Gothic aesthetic is used here in a context in which it was rejected, we define it as a transgressive aesthetic and, therefore, grotesque when considering the definition of the latter term by authors such as Kayser, Hugo, Harpham, and Sodré & Paiva. This work deals with the concept of Gothic based on Botting, Kilgour, and Punter, and with the naturalistic elements from the perspective of Baguley. Thus, we seek to find out how Aluísio Azevedo worked with this hybrid aesthetic that uses naturalistic and grotesque gothic elements in Demônios. We established as the main objective to understand the configuration of the hybrid aesthetic used in Demônios, and as the specific objectives, to identify converging elements among gothic, grotesque and naturalism, as well as to analyze fragments of the work from the perspective of a hybrid aesthetics. We also take into account that the original version of the work was published in 1891, on the eve of the first presidential election of the new Brazilian republic. Therefore, we assume that this aesthetic was used to metaphorize a social discomfort present in the context of production of Demônios. Although we use the 1893 version of the story, the initial proposal does not change since we consider that only a brief passage was suppressed in relation to the very first version. Among the results, it was possible to confirm the use of a hybrid aesthetic in Demônios as the author mixes naturalistic and grotesque gothic elements to create a negative and uncomfortable feeling. Elements of the plot also suggest an anticipation of possible changes in the country that could be positive/ist or negative, and Aluísio works with this double possibility, specially at the end of Demônios.