Uma reflexão sobre O Continente v. I, de Érico Veríssimo: entre a literatura e a história

Abstract

This study aims to propose a reflection on the historical and literary aspects presented in the historical novel O Continente, volume I by Érico Veríssimo based on the concept of verisimilitude, identifying and establishing a relationship between the elements of History and Literature that according to Zilberman (2004) enable the reader to become a witness of the Rio Grande do Sul history. The methodology used was bibliographic research. The structural analysis of aspects from the narrative and the construction process, was based on Forster (2003) and the methodologies of Gancho (2006), in addition to some concepts by Brait (1985) about character analysis. The definition of history and literature uses concepts from Pesavento (2003) in the attempt to an approximation between the two areas that act simultaneously in this research. The social aspects to be discussed in the present study are based on the understandings of Candido (2006 and 1980) and the data provided by Maestri (2006). In order to illustrate the perpetuation of the myth of the Native Hero (Gaucho Herói), the definitions of Dutra (2001) and Albeche (1995) support the analysis of historical and cultural nature about the figure of great prominence in the plot of the novel. Lastly, the history of Rio Grande do Sul brings the data of Pesavento (2003) and (2014), in addition to the notes of Flores (2019), seeking to put into practice the concept of historiographic metafiction by Hutcheon (1991), briefly working on the understanding of Chartier's New Cultural History, as well as Carlo Ginzburg's microhistory, expanding the construction's process analysis of the work that uses Rio Grande do Sul's periods of conflict as a backdrop, while filling in the gaps left by history in the imagination of the people from the state. Keuwords: literature; story; gaúcho; likelihoo