A cidade jurídica da República da Bruzundanga: a burocracia e o espaço em Lima Barreto (1900-1922)

Abstract

This research proposes to discuss the fictional creations of Bruzundanga country in the work of Lima Barreto, which reflect the historical events of the city of Rio de Janeiro, in the pictures of Brazil’s First Republic. Above all, the legal dimension and the spatialities of this country are treated, the difficulties that, according to the writer, were faced to give carnality to the dreams of the orderly and republican city. From then on, the obstacles experienced by the statesmen who did little or almost nothing to remove the republican dreams of a country and an ideal city are shown. The object of this research is the constant references that Barreto made about the Law, that allow to create visibilities and sayings about the organization of the national bureaucratic space. The debates on the history of the body and the sensibilities guide the theoretical discussions of this work, and throughout the research, points of dialogue are built with David Le Breton, Georges Vigarello, Erving Goffman, Jean Jacques Courtine and Claudine Haroche. The sources mobilized to develop the discussion are articles, chronicles, short stories, novels, correspondences (active and passive), and Barreto's diaries. The cartographic method is used to read and study the sources, particularly the debate developed by Suely Rolnick in his sentimental Cartography. The time frame of this research began in 1900, based on the writing time of the first notes by Lima Barreto in his Intimate Diary, and we ended our investigation in 1922, the year that marks the writer’s death.