The construction of the female character in “Boule de suif”

Authors

  • Clarissa Navarro Conceição Lima Mestranda em Estudos Literários. UNESP – Universidade Estadual Paulista. Faculdade de Ciências e Letras. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Estudos Literários. Araraquara – SP – Brasil. 14800-900.
  • Fani Miranda Tabak Pós-Doutora pela Universidade de Nottingham, Reino Unido. Doutora em Estudos Literários. UNESP – Universidade Estadual Paulista. Faculdade de Ciências e Letras. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Estudos Literários. Araraquara – SP – Brasil. 14800-90. Professora Adjunta. UFTM – Universidade Federal do Triângulo Mineiro – Uberaba – MG – Brasil. 38025-180.

Keywords:

French Literature, Maupassant, Character, Irony, Historiography,

Abstract

Focusing specifically on the female character of the short story “Boule de Suif”, published by Maupassant ten years after the Franco-Prussian War, in 1880, we have found a special relation between the fact that it is about a courtesan and that of her function in the work, connected to politics, to religion, to the values of heroism and the behavior which it establishes. What is particularly interesting to us is the irony that builds the character, the hypocrisy encrusted in the society of the time, and some symbols that involve its construction. To accomplish our aim, we count on the support of some theories already known, such as the analysis and the theoretical study of Irony and the ironic by Muecke; Theory of Romance by Lukács; and Concepts of Criticism and History of Modern Criticism by Wellek, although our work has as its specific focus the function of the female character as a web that intertwines the relations present in this short story.

Published

29/02/2016

Issue

Section

Artigos