Uma coronel no sertão: transfigurações do feminino em A História de Bernarda Soledade, de Raimundo Carrero

Abstract

Regionalism has been considered by a large part of Brazilian literary criticism as a manifestation of low artistic quality. This negative view has led many contemporary writers to reject the association to the label, even though their works present themes and images that are part of a regionalist tradition. This paper analyzes the novel A História de Bernarda Soledade - a tigre do sertão, by Raimundo Carrero, focusing on the representations of the feminine condition and of the phenomenon known as "coronelismo". The analysis is based on the character Bernarda Soledade, who subverts the social conventions imposed by society and gives a new guise to the representation of the "coronelismo". It appears that, despite Raimundo Carrero's denial of regionalism, it is possible to find in the work analyzed the recurrence of indexes that have been expressed throughout Brazilian literary history and, therefore, are inserted in a regional tradition, even if there are transfigurations in the way how these elements are represented