From lonely whirlwind to ungracious spectacle

aspects of the tragic in “O arco desolado”, by Ariano Suassuna

Abstract

Since the classical period, the tragic has been a discussed artistic concept in the West. In modern literary production, this element sometimes appears in the structure of dramaturgy and sometimes as a theme, constituting aesthetic elements in the literary text. It is from the narrative of a subject struggling against his own destiny that we realize how tragicity configures certain fictional segments. Taking this into consideration, this work addresses, in the course of the analysis, aspects of modern tragedy present in the dramaturgy O Arco Desolado (2018), by Ariano Suassuna. The main objective of this paper is to reflect tensions in the tragic condition of the protagonist, Sigismundo. That said, this critical reading aims to understand the construction of the tragic by analyzing not only what the elements that construct the narrative says, but the ways constructed to say it, which opens up space for reflections on the characteristics of the tragedy, as well as the implications of tragicity in the universe that plan the suassuniana dramaturgy.