LOVE DISCOURSE AND FETISH IN THE NOVEL A PATA DA GAZELA

Abstract

Adopting a semiotic perspective to analyze the discursive production of the passionate meaning, this paper sought to evaluate the linguistic expressions that embodied desire in José de Alencar’s novel A pata da gazela. By considering the influence of the romantic literary movement in defining the cultural framework of the newly independent Brazilian nation in the 19th century and the history of the discursive forms of realization of desire, it was possible to investigate the figurative manifestation of fetishistic desire in A pata da gazela as relevant to the formation of the lexical foundations of the amorous discourse in the country, including its erotic dimension, since the novel was one of the first to incorporate this passional dimension in its narrative in the national literature. Using corpus analysis and a bibliographical review as a methodology, contributions from the field of Semiotics were used, such as Fontanille's (2005, 2011) contributions on passion studies; eroticism in Bataille (1987) and fetishism with Safatle (2010), as well as references from the field of literary studies, based on Candido (2000) and Ribeiro (1996), for example. The research, therefore, privileged Horácio’s narrative perspective, as it addresses the erotic and the carnal through fetish, in order to contribute to the development of the studies of the linguistic forms of expression of desire in the literary discourse produced in Brazil and how they influenced the formation of the amorous discourse in society.