Jagunços e homens livres pobres: O lugar do mito no Grande sertão

Abstract

Based on Guimarães Rosa's creation of the "jagunço-world", between myth and History, this essay seeks to understand the constitution of both, the narrator and the characters in Grande sertão: veredas [The Devil to Pay in the Backlands]. It concentrates itself on the fictional formation of the "jagunço", whose verisimilitude is localized in the difficulties of the inlander life and in the idealization of the attempts to outstrip them. Finally, the paper aims to understand the formal law of the characters' (de)formation - to be a myth or not to be - in contrast with the historic figuration of the "free poor man", in order to interpret Guimarães Rosa's reading of the Brazilian modernity in the backlands.