Critical perspectives in Torto arado

Abstract

The novel Torto arado, by Itamar Vieira Júnior, is addressed in this article to offer readers a critical perspective on two key aspects: its symbolic realm and its structural framework. Published in 2019, this piece offers a critical perspective on our country's formation through an ancestral narrative laden with erasures and silences. More than that, it deals with the struggle of the Quilombo community and its importance in our historical context. Drawing from analytical, critical, theoretical, and historical perspectives, we aimed to reflect and exemplify how this novel can be interpreted in pursuit of literary approaches that interweave cultures, displacements, and subalternities observed within the profound ancestry of Brazil. The focus was, in an introductory and panoramic way, to articulate concepts, undertake analyses, and consider methods that could contribute to the development of critical readers of contemporary Brazilian literature. To accomplish this, we utilized theoretical and critical texts by René Wellek and Austin Warren (2003), Terry Eagleton (2019), and Affonso Romano Sant’anna (1979). The suggestions sought an almost didactic path that could offer the reader a clear perspective on the literary structure of the work. The conclusion drawn was that the structural awareness that articulates images and unfolds them into imagery and stylistic ensemble characterizes the very structure of the novel and ensures its literary quality.