Atravessando sertões: uma abordagem psicanalítica da fome e do trauma na obra literária de Rodolfo Teófilo

Abstract

With a psychoanalytic point of view, this thesis deals with the literary work A fome by Rodolfo Teófilo (1890). Considered one of the pioneering works on the droughts of the Northeast, it narrates the consequences of famine, the smallpox epidemic, and the negligence of the rulers experienced by migrants from Ceará during the drought of 1877-1879. According to the biographers of the author Rodolfo Teófilo, studying the droughts had a significant impact on his life. The author, a man of letters and science, was also concerned with denouncing the corruptions of power and social ills. This thesis sought to sustain a discussion of the trauma generated by famine as an intentional trauma related to natural conditions or catastrophes and the action or negligence of other human beings. The first chapter presents fundamental discussions about trauma in Sigmund Freud and Sándor Ferenczi. In the notions of the death drive, unrepresentable, denial, and cleavage, some options for articulating psychoanalytical metapsychology with other fields of knowledge were identified. Here, we highlight the subjective aspects involved in the trauma of limit-experiences, such as extreme hunger. The second chapter discusses the contemporary notion of testimony that preserves the paradox between the need and impossibility of narrating traumatic experiences. In addition, this chapter comments on how Rodolfo Teófilo described these limit-experiences, placing himself as a witness and seeking to face and resist the dehumanization that this suffering aroused. Hence, his records and literature are affected by these limit-experiences. Finally, in the third chapter, we discuss how the framework that the writer printed in the writing of the book allows a reading of the text as imagery. Beyond this framework, it also exposes the testimonial character of his work. The author worked to make his writing show as letters addressed to readers, so they would be witnesses to his testimony about famine. That allows new openings to be made at each reading, depending on the current issues that insist on being present in our culture.