Jump to content

Crônica da casa assassinada

Edit links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Hoary (talk | contribs) at 05:06, 27 September 2020 (Hoary moved page Draft:Crônica da casa assassinada, a Brazilian novel to Draft:Crônica da casa assassinada: no need for any disambiguation). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Crônica da casa assassinada [Chronicle of the Murdered House] (1959) is an epistolary novel by Brazilian writer Lúcio Cardoso (1913–1968), adapted into the film A casa assassinada [The Murdered House] (1971), directed by Paulo César Saraceni.[1][better source needed]

Synopsis

A decaying farmhouse in a provincial town in Minas Gerais is at the core of the action and becomes a major character. The plot is punctuated by sin, death and illness, and it shows the result of the presence of three brothers (Demétrio, Valdo and Timóteo) and the wives (Ana and Nina). Nina is a stunningly beautiful woman who comes from Rio de Janeiro and is unable to adapt to the rural, peasant life. She marries Valdo for his wealth, but soon discovers the decay of the Meneses family. As one of the main protagonists of the work, she is a destructive element of the family order and causes envy and disaffection in the family circle. She has an adulterous affair with Alberto, one of the servants who witness the events. From their relationship, André is born. André opens the book in a cyclic key. He is the character who retells Nina's death, so the story starts from the end of the chronology. The novel's plot and form are organized around the taboo incest between mother and child, leaving the fictional truth open for the reader to unveil.[2]

Evaluation

Crônica da casa assassinada is the best-known work of Brazilian novelist, poet and playwright Lúcio Cardoso. The story is told through letters, and reveals elements of jealousy, grudges and taboo themes. It takes place in an old farm in the interior of Minas Gerais, which is visited by a woman. The story focuses on the decay of the Meneses family and depicts themes such as extramarital affairs, forbidden love, incestuous relationships, kinship, and violent acts.[2]

According to researcher Mario Carelli (1951–1994), Cardoso's “human and artistic path” comes together in this novel. It is considered the culmination of the writer's trajectory started in 1934, with Maleita, which is in tune with the dominant regionalist trend of the time. The novel leads to the psychological-existential path of Luz no Subsolo (1936), characterized by Carelli as a “passionate sketch”. This can also be seen in texts like the novel Mãos Vazias [Empty Hands] (1938) and in the trilogy composed by Inácio (1944), O Enfeitiçado [Bewitched] (1954) and the unpublished Baltazar, which serve as a laboratory for the creation of this novel.[3][4][5][6]

Critic Alfredo Bosi points out that the novel's theme is linked to religious and spiritualist issues, immersed in the formal freedom conquered by the vanguards in a “descent into the hell of anguish and guilt.”[7] However, a difficulty persists in framing it in one of the currents of the national novel. The complex crossing of literary characteristics does not allow reducing its uniqueness to the idea of ​​an “introspective novel” or to the trends developed by the mentioned interlocutors.[2]

The reader is faced with the narrative unfolded between psychological turbulence and the portrait of the degrading social order. Or, between the production of “spectral portraits of being”, as suggested by the poet Carlos Drummond de Andrade in a tribute poem to Cardoso, and the exhibition of the “moral metastasis of the Meneses farm”, in the words of the critic Eduardo Portella.[8]

See also

References

  1. ^ Saraceni, Paulo César (1971-02-21), A Casa Assassinada (Drama), Rubens Araújo, Norma Bengell, Nelson Dantas, Joseph Guerreiro, Planiscope Filmes, retrieved 2020-09-16
  2. ^ a b c Cultural, Instituto Itaú. "Crônica da Casa Assassinada". Enciclopédia Itaú Cultural (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2020-09-13.
  3. ^ Carelli, Mario. Crônica da casa assassinada: a consumação romancesca. In: Cardoso, Lúcio; Carelli, Mario (coord.). Crônica da casa assassinada. Edição crítica. Madri: Archivos, 1991.
  4. ^ Carelli, Mario. A música do sangue. In: Cardoso, Lúcio; Carelli, Mario (coord.). Crônica da casa assassinada. Edição crítica. Madri: Archivos, 1991.
  5. ^ Carelli, Mario. A recepção crítica. In: Cardoso, Lúcio; Carelli, Mario (coord.). Crônica da casa assassinada. Edição crítica. Madri: Archivos, 1991.
  6. ^ Carelli, Mario. O resgate de um escritor maldito. In: Cardoso, Lúcio; Carelli, Mario (coord.). Crônica da casa assassinada. Edição crítica. Madri: Archivos, 1991.
  7. ^ Bosi, Alfredo. História concisa da literatura brasileira. 8th ed. São Paulo: Cultrix, 1994.
  8. ^ Portella, Eduardo. A linguagem prometida. In: Cardoso, Lúcio; Carelli, Mario (coord.). Crônica da casa assassinada. Edição crítica. Madri: Archivos, 1991.
  9. ^ "Filmografia – A casa assassinada". bases.cinemateca.gov.br. Retrieved 2020-09-16.


Category:Brazilian novels adapted into films Category:20th-century Brazilian novels Category:1959 novels

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Crônica_da_casa_assassinada&oldid=980555339"