The uncommented relevance of “A escrava Isaura” ARTIGO ORIGINAL SEABRA, Alexandre Sabado [1] SEABRA, Alexandre Sabado. The uncommented relevance of “A escrava Isaura”.Revista Científica Multidisciplinar Núcleo do Conhecimento. 04 year, Ed. 03, Vol. 08, pp. 136-148. March 2019. ISSN: 2448-0959, Access link: https://www.nucleodoconhecimento.com.br/literature-en/uncommented-relevance Contents SUMMARY 1. INTRODUCTION 2. THE ABOLITIONIST APPROACH 3. IDEALIZATION AND ULTRA-ROMANTIC SUFFERING IN PROSA 4. REGIONALISM 5. RELATIONSHIP WITH REALISM 6. FINAL CONSIDERATIONS REFERENCES SUMMARY The main objective of this work is to bring out essential romantic characteristics about the novel A escrava Isaura, by the writer Bernardo Guimarães, appreciated for generations, but that textbooks give little importance to the learning of Brazilian Romanticism. Keywords: Abolitionism, Slavery, Romanticism, Regionalism. 1. INTRODUCTION Many have heard of one of the main works of Brazilian Romanticism: A escrava Isaura. This, which has also been enjoyed in cinema format (in 1929), theater and, mainly, telenovela www.nucleodoconhecimento.com.br The uncommented relevance of “A escrava Isaura” twice (in 1977 and 2004), and one with approach to the origins of Isaura, A escrava mãe (in 2017). All were critical and audience success in Brazil and in the other countries in which they were transmitted. However, the literary work has little scope in the teaching of romantic Brazilian literature, as can be seen in several textbooks in the area of literature. Therefore, the work is more valued in the television environment than as a literary element. The plot shows the life of a beautiful, white slave who seeks to escape the lust of her master, Leôncio. When the escape is given for granted, she meets a young Álvaro of abolitionist ideas, who frees her from Leôncio and marshes her. Despite being an abolitionist work, it is observed the care with which the ouro-pretano author Bernardo Joaquim da Silva Guimarães (1825-1884) works with the character, padding the white color of the protagonist. The main objective of this work is to show the importance, bringing a differentiated approach, for pedagogical purposes, of the characteristics of the Brazilian romantic period based on the main work of Bernardo Guimarães: A escrava Isaura. When researching the work, it is verified that most textbooks of literature place Bernardo Guimarães’ novel in a supporting way regarding its importance in Brazilian romanticism. Many of the books don’t even mention the writer and the work. The proposed approach brings the didactic importance of the work regarding the characteristics of the romantic period already known and taught by connoisseurs of Brazilian literature of the nineteenth century. Characteristics such as abolitionism, regionalism, the evil of the century and unconditional love, sometimes hyperbolic. 2. THE ABOLITIONIST APPROACH A escrava Isaura is published in the period of the abolitionist campaign of 1875, having been set in the early years of the reign of D. Pedro II – as the work itself reports in its first lines – happening, therefore, in the 1840s. It can be said that it was the perfect backdrop for the dissemination of the novel, which at the time was published in serials. These were presented periodically, almost always weekly, in newspapers. www.nucleodoconhecimento.com.br The uncommented relevance of “A escrava Isaura” For an adequate understanding of what will be developed here, a brief understanding of the workings of the romantic era in Brazil is needed first. According to Citelli (2007, p. 9), romanticism proved to be a vast movement, and in it lies conservatism and libertarian desire, formal innovation and the repetition of established formulas such as dating as power and radical revolt. Thus, it is possible to find in the novel of the writer Bernardo Guimarães elements that stand out in the formula that best describes romanticism: freedom added with passion and emotion. Abolitionism, the basis of the condoreira generation, is the characteristic element that the reader can see in the first place by associating the romantic movement with the novelA escrava Isaura. Therefore, it is necessary to have a brief understanding of what was the condoreira generation, the phase that represented the third romantic moment that elapsed between 1870 and 1890. The authors William Cereja and Thereza Cochar (2013, p. 224) highlight the reasons that gave birth to the third romantic generation: “In Brazil, as the labor force was predominantly slave, Condoreirismo assumed abolitionist and republican features”. José de Nicola seeks to define the third phase of Brazilian Romanticism as follows: “Characterized by social and libertarian poetry, it reflects the internal struggles of the second half of the reign of D. Pedro II. […] The term condoreirismo is a consequence of the symbol of freedom adopted by the young romantics: the condor, an eagle that inhabits the top of the Andes mountains.” (NICOLA, 1993, p.76) Even after the above analyses, many didatas limit the value of Condoreirism to poetry only. However, in the prose of Bernardo Guimarães, this characteristic is quite present since the work analyzed here has as protagonist a slave who desires her freedom. Although subjective in nature, the work is the social denunciation, portraying an abolitionist view of slavery still existing in Brazil. Some characters arouse the eagers for the abolitionist and republican desire, the main one is www.nucleodoconhecimento.com.br The uncommented relevance of “A escrava Isaura” Álvaro, who has heroic value in the text, as it is possible to analyze in the words of the character: “Slavery itself is already an indignity, a hideous ulcer on the face of the nation, which tolerates and protects it. For my part, there is no reason i see to bring to this point the respect for an absurd prejudice, resulting from an abuse that dishonors us in the eyes of the civilized world. Be i though the first to set this noble example, which may be imitated. Serve him at least an energetic and solemn protest against a barbaric and shameful institution.” (GUIMARÃES, 2012, p. 132-133) But it is possible to identify others, such as André. He has an intense desire to escape the Almeida farm, even if it costs him his life. Another character is Álvaro’s best friend, Dr. Geraldo. Geraldo, although abolitionist, is rational. Seeing the friend without the means to prevent Leôncio from taking Isaura back to the farm, he tries to support Álvaro: “It is not so much, my dear Álvaro; these excesses and abuses must be consnated; but how can justice or public power devthe interior of the domestic home, and ingest in the government of the citizen’s house? that abominable and hideous mysteries, to which slavery gives way, do not pass through these devices and farms, without, no longer say justice, but not even the neighbors, they have knowledge?… As long as there is slavery, these examples will be set. A bad institution produces a multitude of abuses, which can only be extinguished by cutting evil at the root. (…) Your philosophy is beautiful, and worthy of your noble heart; But what do you want? civil laws, social conventions, are works of man, imperfect, unjust, and often cruel. The angel suffers and groans under the yoke of slavery, and the devil exudes himself to the fastigio of fortune and power.” (GUIMARÃES, 2012, p. 130-131) Even though the writer has analyzed the mind of the Brazilian in relation to the possible conscious side regarding the cultural paradoxes derived from miscegecity, it can also be affirmed to be a subjective work regarding abolitionism, because the writer seeks to emphasize the antagonist’s tireless hunt for heroin. Moreover, there is a greater concern about the almost European beauty of the protagonist character, and not so much as the evils www.nucleodoconhecimento.com.br The uncommented relevance of “A escrava Isaura” of the slave regime that still suffered the country. 3. IDEALIZATION AND ULTRA-ROMANTIC SUFFERING IN PROSA It is important to highlight that Isaura, created by Leonius’ mother, is differentiated, having a high degree of refinement of education, culture and beauty. These elements of extreme admiration and covetousness for almost all the Maculian characters of the work: Leôncio , Henrique (Leôncio’s brother-in-law), Belchior (the farm gardener), André (also a slave on the farm) and Álvaro. However, what most Bernardo Guimarães highlights in his work is the fact that the slave is white-skinned. Bosi (1975, p. 158) explains the following about the ethnic analysis of the slave: “all the beauty of the slave is put in her not to appear black, but not as described since the first chapter”. Isaura is directly attributed to mythological, divine characteristics, described as a perfect being, compared metaphorically and hyperbolically as an angel, a mermaid or a saint. Therefore, it is evident another romantic characteristic: the idealization of the woman. In front of the first chapter of the work, after singing in front of the piano, Isaura is thus described in the first chapter: “The felt and misgiving notes of that singing escaping through the open windows and echoing in the distance around, make you want to meet the mermaid who so beautifully sings. If it’s not a mermaid, only an angel can sing like that.” (GUIMARÃES, 2012, p. 17) The narrator’s description of Isaura’s wonderful and divine image follows in the course of chapter I: “The complexion is like the ivory of the keyboard, alva that does not dazzle, blurred by a delicate nuance, which you will not know whether it is light pallor or pink fainted. The owner’s lap and the purest lavor sustains with infendable grace the wonderful bust. The loose and heavily wavy hair shrank by the shoulders in thick, light rollers, and as black fringes almost completely hid the back of the chair, which was sat back.