RADUAN NASSAR, LEITOR DE ALMEIDA FARIA

RADUAN NASSAR, AN ALMEIDA FARIA READER

Abstract

Raduan Nassar is a reader of Almeida Faria, as revealed by the Portuguese author in the preface to the Brazilian edition of A Paixão, published by CosacNaify, in 2014. The same tension between the sacred and the profane that we read in A Paixão, by Almeida Faria, can also be found in Lavoura arcaica, by Raduan Nassar. Family relationships, in both narratives, exude passions, wills. The religious order within the constitution of the two families that have been archaically educated corresponds, in both works, to the obedience they dedicate to their two patriarchs: either to the pure patriarch of Lavoura arcaica, or to the profligate from A Paixão. The patriarchy paradigm maintains control of the primary powers in both families. Parents position themselves stands as moral authorities and control the attitudes of their families. Desire and will reproduce the orders of the patriarchs among family members; to reorder them would be to establish a struggle for emancipation among the oppressed, a movement that transformed Lavoura arcaica into a tragic novel, as we show in this article.