Tragédia do pequeno homem: sobre 'Ciro', de Modesto Carone

Abstract

“Ciro” is the second of the two tales comprised in Resumo de Ana (A summation of Ana), written by Modesto Carone. Ciro, who is Ana’s son, leads a path which is, according to the author himself, a tragic one. In other words, the text presents a plot that necessarily leads to a denouement. In “Ciro”, there are time leaps, but still in a sort of continuum, marked by repetition, by the return of the same events and by the reiteration of a certain “historical and almost inflexible fate”. From the beginning, whilst still a baby, Ciro’s life is stricken by a series of unfortunate events and a few – yet fundamental – moments of relief, fantasy and aspirations. This paper aims at stablishing “Ciro” as a restrained and sensitive representation of the amalgam of banality and tragedy, familiarity and strangeness, indifference and grief, all of which have been persistent characteristics of the fractures and tensions inherent to the relationships of alterity in Brazil.