The dagger of Cain – literary settings and family conflicts – a study of Corá (1932), José de Mesquita

Abstract

The tragic biblical narrative of the Book of Genesis, Cain and Abel, points to an “aesthetic of amazement,” suggesting wide range of possibilities of reflection to humanity from time immemorial, seeking answers to their existential conflicts. It is by installing a perplexing effect on the reader, the literary creation has made present significant trends of contemporary spirit, catalyzing anxieties and disturbing anxieties of our time. In the studies we are doing on the fictional narrative produced in Mato Grosso, in the 30s of the twentieth century, located the Corá work, of the José de Mesquita authorship of this communication object, produced in 1930 was published for the first time in 1932 in New Magazine (1931-1932), in São Paulo, whose editors were Paul Prado, Mário de Andrade and Antonio Alcantara Machado - recognized modernist writers of Brazilian literature. The title of the work takes the central character name whose constitution is forged symbolically. The tragic atmosphere configures itself from the conflict on inter-family relations. It is intended, in the light of Antonio Candido 1968 essay, “The character of the novel,” there defined as fictitious entity that lives the facts that make up the narrative plot, investigate the substance of the characters are made to establish possible clashes and confluences between this such work, yet little studied Joseph Mosque, and the biblical narrative Cain and Abel. Attention will also be given, in our presentation, the elements of the historical, social and cultural context of modernism in Mato Grosso.
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