The female presence in medauar's literature: “O facão” and the fears of the non-canonized woman

Abstract

This essay studies the female presence in Medauar's literature in the short story “O facão” (MEDAUAR, 1975). Therefore, it analyzes how Medauar thematizes violence against women in order to understand the patriarchal ideologies anchored in 20th century South Bahian society. Thus, it establishes a counterpoint between female representation in the Medauarian narrative and in the traditional South Bahian narrative. The bibliographical study takes as a theoretical apparatus the concept of “decentralization” (GINZBURG, 2012a) and the conceptions of gender (CAMPOS, 1992; SACRAMENTO, 2001), as well as studies about narrative elements (CORTÁZAR, 2004; CHIAPPINI, 2002) and “the literature about a region” (ARENDT, 215). The conclusion is that Medauar modernizes the female presence in the social imaginary of the epoch through the representation of a non-canonized woman, which is played by Lurdinha, a character strange to the stereotypes corroborated by the center of economic and symbolic power in the southern region of Bahia.