Revista Brasileira de Literatura Comparada (May 2023)
HAGIOGRAPHY OF A COURTESAN: IDYLL, ROMANCE AND LEGEND IN JOSÉ DE ALENCAR'S LUCÍOLA
Abstract
Since its release, Lucíola (1862) has been the subject of analyses that especially address the parallel with La dame aux camélias (Alexandre Dumas, fils) and Paul et Virginie (Bernardin de St-Pierre). However, rarely have the issues therein been treated as a whole, so as to constitute a single coherent narrative. For, despite the erotic language of the initial chapters, the idyllic images or “analogy of innocence” (Frye) end up gradually overlapping in the construction of scenes, dialogues and situations, as well as in the references to the work of St. Pierre, to Atala (Chateaubriand) and to the idylls of Theocritus. Thus, Lucíola undergoes a crucial modification in its mythos, which comes to orbit around the concept of the idyll, not only as locus amoenus (Curtius) but above all in the modern sense attributed to it by Schiller (1800), according to which it is a coming-to-be which is only fully realised in the key of transcendence. Such a reorientation from immanence to transcendence brings it closer to one of the “simple forms” ( Jolles), which is the Christian legend. By objectifying good and evil, the legend culminates in the superior character of the saint, whose mythos takes place through the “path that leads to sanctity” ( Jolles). Discussing such premises, the article proposes that the criticism of Lucíola revealed a profound misunderstanding of the discursive role of G.M., the worthy lady responsible for publishing the letters delivered to her by Paulo, the heroine’s lover. G.M. understands the construction of the novel as vita and exemplum - something the narrator fails to grasp.
