Evil in Jose de Alencar's <i>O Sertanejo</i> and the figurations of the evil in the press and fiction of the 19th century

Abstract

This work investigates the figurations of evil in Jose de Alencar's novel O Sertanejo (1875), focusing on the images of the devil, in particular those inscribed in the theme of the diabolical pact and in the imagery of the demonisation of other cultures in the field. The novel is studied through dialogue with literary works published in the periodical press of the 1800s (1860-1880), productions dedicated particularly to the theme of the pact and works whose subject matter involves the cultures and lives of the people of provincial or rural regions, attesting to a vivid intellectual interest in the sertao. The way in which the sertao is delineated in the novel O Sertanejo and in fictions contemporary to it that receive space in newspapers results in a mysterious and unknown universe, eventually permeated by a supernatural atmosphere. In relation to the diabolical themes, O Sertanejo deals with the representation of the sertao as reminiscences of themes dear to Romanticism, such as genius, satanic rebellion and the marked hero, which are epitomized in Goethe's Faust. Alencar's novel thus articulates two elements relevant to romantic literature, namely the verisimilar representation of popular culture, which is understood in romantic terms as the mainstay of nationality, and the cultivation of extreme aspects of the imagination