Jorge Amado: from the Proletarian to the Historical novel. A discussion on mediations of the aesthetic form and sociohistorical content

Abstract

The present work intends to elaborate a critical approach on the aesthetic and political aspects manifested in the literature of Jorge Amado, mainly the first three works of the cocoa cycle (Cacau, 1933; Terras do sem fim, 1943; São Jorge dos Ilhéus, 1944). Thereby, we will base our discussion on the specificity of each narrative, as a transfiguration of a determined socio-historical content. Because, with regard to Cacau being proletarian, Terras do Sem Fim is the "epic" of the "drama of feudal conquest" and São Jorge dos Ilhéus is the "stingy" drama of "imperialist conquest" – as the author warns in his notes – we believe that such considerations permeate the emergent debate of social, political, and economic problems of Brazil in the 1930s, which in turn constitute impasse of the figurative apprehension itself. In order to base our work, we will use the studies of György Lukács (2009; 2011), Antonio Candido (1992), among others.