Paulo Honório e Luís da Silva: o drama do anti-herói na literatura brasileira

Abstract

This study aims to investigate how the characters Luís da Silva and Paulo Honório share anti-heroic traits and how this theme develops in the works São Bernardo (2022) and Angústia (2024) by Graciliano Ramos. The research is guided by the following question: How do the psychological complexity and characteristics of the characters Luís da Silva, in Angústia, and Paulo Honório, in São Bernardo, classify them as anti-heroes? To answer this question, an exploratory bibliographic investigation was conducted, based on previously developed material such as books, theses, and dissertations, which supported the analyses carried out. Thus, the research is grounded in the theoretical frameworks of Candido (1974; 2006), Frye (2014), Lukács (2009), Paes (2008), Bueno (2006), Brombert (2001), among other authors. The study relied on the reading and analysis of the two literary works under discussion, complemented by theoretical texts that provided the necessary foundation to achieve the proposed objectives. The anti-hero, or problematic hero, was identified as a figure that symbolizes the complexity of human motivations and dilemmas in modernity. The analyses of the characters allowed for an exploration of the construction of the anti-hero in Brazilian literature, situating Luís da Silva and Paulo Honório as examples of this category. Luís is portrayed as a man consumed by anguish and disillusionment, while Paulo Honório is characterized by his brutality and pragmatism. Both, in distinct ways, manifest anti-heroism. Furthermore, it was observed how writing is integrated into the lives of these characters: for Luís, as a desperate attempt to escape, and for Paulo, as an instrument of reflection and transformation. It is concluded that Graciliano Ramos employs the characters’ writing as a narrative device to deepen the drama of conscience that defines them as anti-heroes.