Perspectivas do espaço e suas significações: o papel da inserção do Espaço Fluminense no final do século XIX, nas obras Memorial de Aires, de Machado de Assis, e O encilhamento, de Visconde de Taunay

Abstract

The present work demonstrates an analysis of Rio de Janeiro s space at the end of the 19th century, based on the imagery stipulated by the outline of Machado de Assis s Memorial de Aires, with a literary heritage from the same author s Esaú e Jacó, and Visconde de Taunay s O Encilhamento. The choice of both novels was due to the fact that they share temporal and spatial characteristics in their narratives: both took place at the end of the 19th century, in the space of Rio de Janeiro. Considering this specific literary choice, it was possible to analyse the transformation ideology that permeated the turn of the 19th century, related to the constant modernization of the metropolis and the ways these changes are transposed into imagery, symbolism, in the two novels. Regarding this analysis, the following literary critics space methodology was extremely relevant, demonstrating the need to establish verifiable and objective patterns to analyse the imagery present in these works. Building on the imagery analysis, it was possible to elaborate maps that act as enlighteners of patterns and tendencies, such as the feeling of belonging to Rio de Janeiro although Aires is a character that has lived many years abroad, outside Rio and Brazil. According to the observation, there is a perspective linked to memory and transformation in these narratives, as well as the demonstration of patterns already indicated in Machado s well-known critical essays for instance, certain means of transportation acting as a symbol of wealth