Questions and answers from a committed novel

Abstract

This article proposes an interpretation of Torto arado, by Itamar Vieira Junior (2019), based on elements of the narrative form, drawing primarily on Bakhtinian concepts such as the chronotope and the implied author. It avoids discussing thematic issues or evaluating whether the novel is aesthetically successful, instead privileging a structural analysis. The starting hypothesis is that, beyond the interpretation of Brazil evident in the construction of the fictional universe (the exploitation of tenant farmers as a continuation of slavery), it is possible to identify, on the formal level, an attempt to respond to this continuity. The novel would thus be structured through a dialectic between, on the one hand, territorial belonging and community stability and, on the other, political organization and awareness of national history. From this contradiction, the novel proposes a synthesis that ultimately proves problematic: just as opposing voices are controlled by the implied author so that they share the same ideological position, the plot attempts to reconcile contradictions by sublimating revolt into a form of vengeance without an explicit agent. This problematic synthesis, however, can be seen as an elaboration of the difficulties involved in resolving this contradiction embedded within the struggles for social transformation in Brazil.