O que se diz quando se cala? Silêncio e velhice na obra Quarenta dias, de Maria Valéria Rezende

Abstract

The present work aims to analyze the silence present in the work Quarenta dias (2014), by Maria Valéria Rezende. In light of this, we seek to establish a relationship between these moments of absence of speech and issues relating to the silencing of the elderly. In this sense, the research will start from the bibliographical survey of texts by Perrone-Moisés (2016), Holanda (2004), Candido (2006) and Ginzburg (2012) to reflect on literature and its relationship with the social and cultural context in contemporary times, the in order to situate the author and her work. Two theoretical categories served as the basis for the discussion: to investigate silence, the theoretical and critical thinking of Holanda (1992), Barthes (2003) and Wolff (2014) were used; for the issue regarding aging, the theories of Beauvoir (1970), Federici (2019), Woolf (2019) and Branco and Brandão (1995) were highlighted, in which a panoramic view of the perception of old age was developed, the in order to analyze how the issue is represented literarily in the narrative investigated. In view of this, it was observed that silence appears in the work, fostering multifaceted meanings, such as resistance, submission and understanding, in addition to bringing significant connections intertwined with aging, keeping issues such as the social pressures that women suffer throughout life that do not end in old age.