VIOLENCE IN THE DEAD MAN IN THE ROOM

REFLECTIONS ON THE WORK OF DALTON TREVISAN

Abstract

Violence has been a recurring theme in various Brazilian literary works, with notable records of psychological, sexual, property, and moral violence associated with the behaviors of a violent society. Dalton Trevisan's (1925) literature incisively denounces the violence that occurs in domestic, familial, or private spaces, which may be as cruel, if not more so, than the violence that takes place in the streets. Our hypothesis is that Dalton Trevisan's (1925) literature plays a crucial role in shaping social thought about violence. By addressing the complex power dynamics and conflicts within the domestic and familial environment, the author not only reflects the social dynamics of violence but also contributes to the understanding of its motivations and social dimensions within the Brazilian reality. The objectives of this study are: (i) to analyze the manifestations of violence in Dalton Trevisan's Curitiba in the short story The Dead Man in the Room, identifying the conflict situations in the interpersonal relationships of the characters; (ii) to interpret Trevisan's story as a conscious expression of the denunciation of the violences underlying Brazilian social thought, considering them also as testimonies of a time when domestic violence was not as widely discussed as it is today. The selected corpus for this article is the short story The Dead Man in the Room, from the book Nothing Exemplary Novels (1956). The choice of the author and his work is justified by his unique approach to the human condition, using dense and provocative writing that explores themes such as affection, violence, poverty, and others in a profound and impactful way. The theoretical framework supporting this work includes: Berta Waldman (1982; 2009; 2014), Miguel Sanches Neto (1996), and Law 11.340, to conduct the reading and analysis of Trevisan’s short stories, aiming to understand how the violent situations expressed in the stories are framed through legal and institutional categories, while also examining how literary discourse materializes these situations in the selected short stories. Thus, the results obtained show that violence is a reflection of a worldview in a society historically marked by violence, which normalizes and minimizes its impacts, making it a daily practice.