Descida de um anti-herói aos espaços degradados da cidade e aos subterrâneos do inconsciente em Noite, de Erico Veríssimo

Abstract

Erico Veríssimo, who wrote O tempo e o vento, interrupted the cycle of his masterpiece to write and publish Noite (1954), a novella. The work is placed in a city at night, where all the degradations become possible. Therefore, the city and the night are rather important in the novella mentioned because, through the unity of both, the pilgrimage of a man who lost his memory takes place. This study aims at investigating the functionality of the hostile place that the city at night represents compared to the undergrounds of the protagonist’s mind, which does not recognize where the city leads him to. Owing to this fact, he needs to make an internal route towards himself to get close to his own identity. To carry out this study, we rely on symbolic hermeneutics, Gilbert Durand’s theory of the imaginary, mythology and psychology. In addition, we also use texts associated to the narrative as a category and writers who discuss the city as a subject. The novella on focus can be seen as a descent into the city pictured as a hell, a path followed by the man without memory. By doing so, such man comes across an urban “fauna” which is depicted as degraded and deformed. However, there is a harmonica player dressed “in white” who, through his joyful music, brings the hope of a new day and the return of light, which are symbolic represented by the return of memory and normality. In the novella, the landscapes mirror the characters’ internal lives, and this process triggers feelings and memories in them. This process brings about the protagonist’s traumas which were repressed in his childhood and are placed in his unconscious mind. Such traumas need to be purged and overcome, so that the protagonist can achieve a new life.