SAGARANA: VIOLÊNCIA E RELIGIOSIDADE NA CONSTRUÇÃO DE AUGUSTO MATRAGA

Abstract

This work analyzes from a literary perspective the novel “A hora e vez de Augusto Matraga”, present in the work Sagarana, by João Guimarães Rosa, exploring and investigating the symbolic elements that delineate and delimit its characters, especially the protagonist Augusto Matraga. Our general objective is to understand the representation of the Brazilian backlands through the duality between good and evil present in the work and how the mystical – religious traits weave the main character’s trajectory towards redemption. The analyzes for this bibliographical research were carried out by reading Sagarana (Rosa, 2001) based on the studies of Rónai (2020), Sperber (1982), Ferri (2016), Galvão (1978), Cascudo (2011), Grudem (2009) and Elíade (1992); regarding the concept of violence, we turned to Odália (1991), Oliveira and Martins (2014), Vasconcelos (2002) and Hobsbawn (2010). Furthermore, we use the support of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1993) and the letters of Romans, contained in the New Testament of the Bible (1980). Based on the theoretical contribution, it was found that the trajectory towards the existential sublimation of the protagonist was built through the fusion of religious, sacred and/or profane elements, which mirrored, throughout the narrative, dichotomies and resistances, intrinsic to the human condition.