A república dos sonhos, de Nélida Piñon: o olhar feminista na perspectiva da estética da recepção

Abstract

When we think of literary criticism today, we cannot leave aside the studies of Feminist Theory, which, since the middle of the past century, have been examining the canon of official criticism, by proposing a model of literary analysis that takes into account women's place in literature. In this context, we have the presence of contemporary fictionist Nélida Piñon, who is considered a reference in the Brazilian literature; she is from Portuguese, Hispanic-Spanish and Galician ancestry, and gathers the legacies of a rich and pluricultural heritage in her writing. Thus, this research aims to present and discuss the critical reception of The Republic of Dreams (1984), Nélida Piñon's tenth novel, within the perspective of gender studies. This study maps the repercussion of the novel through Hans Robert Jauss' Reception Theory (1994), from the Feminist Criticism perspective, in a period that goes from 1984, the year in which the novel was launched, to the present day, then building the reading reception paths within this concept. In thirty-five years of reader's reception of Nélida Piñon's novel, the female critical readers are alert to the issues related to Feminist Theory, and they highlight discussions of gender that are projected in this novel - discussions which are often silenced by historians of traditional Brazilian literary history. They are also alert to the aesthetic, historical and cultural aspects in the fictional narrative setting, they then contribute essentially to the literary history of The Republic of Dreams.