This essay considers the relationship between the creative and philosophical writings of Graça Aranha, in part as response to the critical tendency to exclude the majority of his works when analyzing his oeuvre. Aranha’s major work of philosophy, The Aesthetic of Life, proclaims that aesthetic experience is the “basis of perfection”: the solution the alienation initiated by the duality of consciousness. Yet, the aestheticism of his philosophical treatise is ruthlessly tested through the dramatic embodiment found in his three works of fiction: Canaan (novel), Malazarte (play), The Marvelous Journey (novel). Aranha’s interest in philosophical dialectic is manifested most effectively in the drama of ideas which runs through his fiction. Consequently, Aranha’s works should be evaluated and explicated with attention to the ways in which they comment on each other. In particular, the fictional works suggest a negative aspect to Aranha’s aesthetic concept of the marvelous. The three creative works employ and anticipate ideas found in Psychoanalytic theory, Marxist theory, and Existentialism in order to illustrate that the marvelous experience is a kind of death of the subject. Additionally, this essay contributes to the critical dialogue over Aranha’s place in or outside of Brazilian modernism. The representation of Brazilian dance and ritual found in the two novels are explored as a noteworthy modernist approach to the questions of cultural and aesthetic decadence that influenced the modernist period in both Europe and Brazil. / text

Submitted by Andrea Ramon Ruocco null (ar_ruocco@yahoo.com.br) on 2017-12-29T01:32:06Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Andrea Ramon Ruocco_Dissertação_Arquivo Final.pdf: 2895291 bytes, checksum: 09322fb52384eb9ce9c29849d1b881b1 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Laura Odette Dorta Jardim null (laura@franca.unesp.br) on 2018-01-18T12:12:14Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Andrea Ramon Ruocco_Dissertação_Arquivo Final.pdf: 2895291 bytes, checksum: 09322fb52384eb9ce9c29849d1b881b1 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-01-18T12:12:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Andrea Ramon Ruocco_Dissertação_Arquivo Final.pdf: 2895291 bytes, checksum: 09322fb52384eb9ce9c29849d1b881b1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-12-06 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / O autor José Pereira da Graça Aranha, maranhense nascido em 1868, formado em Direito pela Escola do Recife e falecido em 1931, teve seu primeiro livro – o romance Chanaan – publicado em 1902; exerceu funções diplomáticas na Europa; foi membro da Academia Brasileira de Letras rompendo posteriormente com a mesma; participou da Semana de Arte Moderna discursando em sua abertura; e publicou obras distintas em gêneros e estilos. É, entretanto, um personagem pouco estudado pela historiografia literária. Além de caminhar no sentido de sanar esta lacuna, esta pesquisa não poderia ter encontrado um material mais oportuno e rico naquilo que se propõe: discutir as diversas formulações de nação que percorreram o território brasileiro no início do século XX, marcado pela ainda recente República e sob as discussões da Primeira Grande Guerra. Nestas obras, onde adere e/ou cria opções estéticas específicas para determinados discursos, três formulações se pronunciam de antemão: germanismo, latinidade e nacionalismo. Porém, entre posicionamentos aparentemente díspares, encontramos permanências, como a admiração de Aranha pela literatura alemã, pelas ideias nietzschianas e a preocupação com o universalismo. Para tanto, esta pesquisa discute alguns conceitos e perspectivas teóricas a propósito da produção cultural na qual Graça Aranha se insere, questionando a noção de “pré-modernismo” e a recente adoção de “literatura da Belle Époque”, e experimentando exercícios como o de José Paulo Paes ao reconhecer uma art nouveau na literatura. Acerca destas questões, a pesquisa perpassa outras duas importantíssimas: a exploração da literatura pela História e o trabalho com um personagem/autor que, como a temática da nação, nos leva a discussões acerca de narrativas e, por conseguinte, de linguagens. Inspirado na premissa de Mikhail Bakhtin na qual forma e conteúdo são indissociáveis na composição do discurso e a noção de trajetória adotada por Pierre Bourdieu, o presente trabalho se debruça sobre “a nação” como um construto não uníssono, modificado ao longo do tempo, mas também plural em discursos coexistentes, por vezes intercruzando formulações antagônicas, por vezes consonantes, e identificando Aranha como não sendo uma exceção. / The author José Pereira da Graça Aranha, born in 1868, graduated in Law School by the Escola de Recife and died in 1931. He had his first book - the novel Chanaan - published in 1902; he also had diplomatic duties in Europe and was a member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters, which he later broke apart with; He participated in the Week of Modern Art making an opening speech and published different works in genres and styles. He does however receive little attention by the literary historiography. Beyond the need to fill this gap, this research couldn’t find a richer material for what it proposes: to discuss the diverse formulations of nation present throughout the Brazilian territory during the early twentieth century, marked by the still young Republic and by the discussions around the First World War. In these works, where he deliberately creates or adopts specifics aesthetical choices for certain discourses, three formulations are pronounced in advance: Germanism, Latinity and nationalism. However, among seemingly disparate positions, permanencies are found, such as Aranha's admiration for German literature, for Nietzschean ideas and a concern for universalism. To do so, this research discusses theoretical concepts and perspectives about the cultural production in which Graça Aranha is inserted, questioning a notion of "premodernism" and a recent adoption of "Belle Époque literature", and trying exercises such as that of José Paulo Paes in recognizing an art nouveau in literature. Around those points, the research brings another two important aspects: the use of literature by History and working with a persona/author that leads us to discussions on narratives and therefore languages. Inspired by Mikhail Bakhtin's premise in which form and content are indissociable in the composition of a discourse and the notion of trajectory adopted by Pierre Bourdieu, the present research focuses on "the nation" as a non-unison construct, modified over time but also plural in coexistent discourses, sometimes interbreeding antagonistic, sometimes consonant formulations, and identifying Aranha as not being an exception. / CAPES: 1526690