The city as the great character in the novel Mariana (1932)

Abstract

The novel Mariana (1932) presents a singular moment of the memory of the city that gives title to the book. The author, Augusto de Lima Júnior, developed a considerable amount of intellectual production concerning the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais along the 20th century. However, his literary work, which deals in great account with the memories and landscapes from Minas Gerais, is currently little known and lacks studies. From the Pierre Nora’s concept of “places of memory” (1993), it is aimed to show, in this paper, how the dimension of memory is configures in “Mariana”. And, through the narrative categories of "nucleus" and "catalysis" (BARTHES, 2001), it is proposed a discussion on how the author seems to invert them in the novel, while presenting a rigorous description of the city regardless of the central plot, which appears to be an strategy to reveal the great character of the novel: the city itself, its landscapes, customs and memories.