O percurso semiótico do desespero e da vingança nos romances Húmus, de Raul Brandão, A confissão de Lúcio, de Mário de Sá-Carneiro e Aparição, de Vergílio Ferreira

Abstract

The corpus of this study is the novels Húmus (1917) by Raul Brandão, A Confissão de Lúcio (1914) by Mário de Sá-Carneiro and Aparição (1959) by Vergílio Ferreira, considering the influence of socio-historical relations on the narratives, which play a fundamental role in understanding these works. Since the three plots studied have as their historical background the political crisis that has affected Portugal since the end of the monarchy, which was intensified by the two great wars and Salazarism. Based on this premise, this study aims to examine the construction of the generative path of meaning of the central characters in the novels by Brandão, Sá-Carneiro and Ferreira. To this end, we use French Semiotics as the theoretical basis for our considerations, which aim to identify how desperation and revenge are represented in the three novels. In fact, we intend to observe how these passions are transformed, oscillating between reality and illusions - originating in the characters' subconscious - motivating them on their journeys in search of their object-value. It's important to point out that the historical setting has a major influence on the works under study, leading the subjects (characters) to search endlessly for recognition of their existence. In fact, the characters are driven by intense passions that bring them into inner conflict with other characters and with the equally chaotic world that surrounds them; which makes the passions mentioned above fundamental elements for the construction of the identity of the individuals in each of the narratives.