RELIGIÃO E PATRIARCALISMO NA LITERATURA DE BERNARDO ÉLIS.

Abstract

This thesis aims at analyze the role of religion, patriarchy, and coronelismo in rural genesis of the ethos of the culture in Goiás. In order to achieve that, we "interpreted", "scrutinized" and "unveiled" three tales of Bernardo Élis: Nhola dos Anjos e cheia do Corumbá, A virgem santíssima do quarto de Joana e A enxada. In these tales, we investigated the bernardiano rural world, a "fictional world" which never existed, but it is loaded with "truth." Its "truth" involves the regional and the universal tragedy experienced by the characters embodied in the rural landscape of Goiás. In the rural setting, enforced by Élis´ writing, religion is a synonym of rustic catholicism while patriarchy and the coronelismo are displayed, among other things, in degraded and hierarchical relationships marked by domination, psychological and physical violence against the weaker. We are relying on the literary hermeneutics and the thought of theorists, ranging from Bourdieu (1998) to Martins (1997, 2001, 2007), to conduct a study of Bernardo Élis under the light of theoretical views of religion sociology, rural sociology, agrarian history, literary and gender studies. Although the culture is a changing historical product, in order to "deconstruct" the tales of Bernardo Élis, we revealed disguised aspects of the "lasting" influence of rustic catholicism and the modus operandi of the patriarchy and the coronelismo in the ethos of the culture in Goiás.