A sedução do estrangeiro e a construção da identidade nacional: Iracema, lenda do Ceará, de José de Alencar

Abstract

This essay focuses on Iracema, Lenda do Ceará, wrote in 1865, by José de Alencar. The objective was to assess the seduction and enchantment that the character Martin, portuguese and christian, awake on the indigenous element, embodied in tabajara india Iracema, the personification of America, who gives herself with fear and desire to the foreign, sacrificing herself for love. To make this analysis, we recognized the nature of "exotic" of America , expounded on the aesthetic and literary Alencar's project and highlight passages of the novel we consider relevant to point the "seduction" of the foreign and the construction of national identity.