A relação entre a educação do corpo no Brasil da Primeira República e os contos de Lima Barreto

Abstract

Taking the literature as a privileged field to seize the contradictions produced by the society, we aim to investigate the body education on solid conditions of the establishment of the First Brazilian Republic related to Lima Barreto’s tales.Therefore, we sought to understand the basis of body education which resonates in the First Brazilian Republic and to analyze Lima Barreto’s stories in its relation to body education elements. We have analyzed one hundred and five short stories written by Lima Barreto between 1904-1922, being possible to identify determinations of bourgeois society on elements that address the work in the First Brazilian Republic social rise and unemployment; the tension between the traditional way and modern way of life, progress and republican organization; the scientific knowledge, formal education and social inequality; sexual and emotional relationships. The narratives refer to the incorporation of new habits applied on reshaping the city spaces which seem modern and industrialized, offering elements to reflect on the body education processed at the time. By the enrichness of characters, physical spaces, conflict and theme, Lima Barreto’s tales unveil the contradictions of bourgeois society and draw criticism of the scientific model that supports body education processes cultivated in this society, allowing reflections beyond the apparent reality.