Art & Art History ETDs

Sharon Wyatt

Publication Date

6-1-1964

Abstract

Lúcio Cardoso's work may be considered as personifying the problem of human solitude in all its physical, moral, and spiritual aspects. Mankind is a wretched lot forever condemned to an oppressive solitude by a merciless God. He developed this theme first through the omniscient third person as in A Luz no Sub-solo and Dias Perdidos, then turned to the stream of consciousness technique as recorded in the mind as in O anfiteatro, or in a confession as in Inácio, and finally perfected it in his masterpiece, Crônica da Casa Assasainada. I have chosen to analyze this last book since it is the most complex of his novels. An analysis of it is an implicit one of the content of his whole body of work.

In the Crônica can be found not only the same theme which under lies all his work but also a more complex interweaving of various narrations which encompasses it. Thus, outsiders such as Father Justino, the doctor, and the pharmacist give their opinions and present the third person view which, however, in this case, is obviously limited. They also represent the view of the city as against that of the "fazenda" given by the Meneses family. Valdo merely remembers these events, while Nina writes letters about them, Betty and André keep diaries, and Ana resorts to confessions in order to ease her mind.

Each of these speakers presents his version of the truth. Each, of necessity, sees but one facet of it, but this partial insight becomes the whole truth as far as he is concerned. Their testimonies reveal the isolation of the members of the Meneses family from the rest of the world, and their subsequent self-seclusion from not only strangers, but also each other as is best symbolized by the total withdrawal of Timóteo from relations with his family. The function of Timóteo is, in fact, to act as a reflection wherein is mirrored the hidden depravity of the other members of his family.

In the struggle within the Meneses over the preservation or destruction of their tradition and position, each person reveals his tragedy to be that of an inability to communicate with each other, and consequently their failure to understand one another. Such beings can never reveal themselves completely. To do so would be to destroy them because their silence and their negative forces are an intimate part of their beings which a sense of acute modesty, or shyness, defends from the curiosity of others.

The theme of human loneliness is often treated in an existentialist manner without adequate motivation for its being. As a result of mere discussion and nothing more, solitude remains a feeling about life held by the author without substantiation, and at times seems extravagant as in Inácio and O Enfeitiçado. Lúcio Cardoso in the Crônica has surmounted this problem by linking his subjective study of Solitude to an objective survey of the physical, moral, and spiritual decadence of a once illustrious family. Such a mental and physical state gains force by the addition of adequate justification.

Decadence in A Crônica da Casa Assassinada is connected with the end of the usefulness and gradual extinction of the glory of a whole way of life. As the remnants of an aristocratic, slave owning society disappear, the souls of the people whose lives were centeres on it and who still obstinately cling to the past in defiant disregard of the realities of the modern age also decline in a slow but inevitable process. The meaningless sterility of such an empty life dedicated to the preservation of the past is shown by the isolation of these people. It resembles that of hurt, dying animals who try to hide from their enemies. In this case, the active, dynamic life of the industrialized cities which is subverting the old, rural, monoculture system of the “fazenda” has become the adversary. Unable to adapt to such a change, these people are destroying themselves and the last vestiges of their heritage. By their loss os spiritual and moral values, they emphasize the reality of the degeneration prefiguring the disappearance of the way of life. In the following chapters, I will first consider the physical symbols of such decadence and isolation, then proceed to a study of the psychological behavior of the Meneses in this respect, and conclude with their moral and spiritual degeneracy.

Language

English

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Arts

Level of Degree

Masters

Department Name

UNM Department of Art and Art History

First Committee Member (Chair)

Illegible

Second Committee Member

Albert Richard Lopes

Third Committee Member

Ruben Cobos

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