Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia, ognelen@hotmail.com
The article concerns the renewal of the novel poetics of the greatest Portuguese writer of the nineteenth century Camilo Castelo Branco. The period from 1865 to 1870 is considered as a transitional one in his work, when forced to defend the romantic principles of his art in literary controversy, the writer continues it in his works of art. Here we examine through this lens his novels The Fall of an Angel and Fatal Woman, also analyzing expansion of the boundaries of romantic poetics. This allows us to consider these novels as a self-reflexive narrative of a special type, in which Castelo Branco takes into account the opinion of his opponents – the authors of post-romantic literature. We reveal the figures-masks of the “simpleton” and “bookman”, with the help of which the writer actualizes the ideas of his contemporaries and opponents of the clichés and canons of romantic light reading in general, and the “passionate romance” in particular. The study of how the ideas of “simpletons” and “bookmen” collide and are refuted allows us to conclude that the writer does not abandon the romantic model of narration, but sees its ample opportunies.
nineteenth-century Portuguese literature; light reading; passionate romance; Camilo Castelo Branco; bookman; simpleton
Download textFor citing: Ogneva E.V. (2023). “Simpleton” and “bookman” in the novels of Camilo Castelo Branco: on the way to “new literature”. Human being: Image and essence. Humanitarian aspects. Moscow: INION RAN. Vol. 3(55): “Simpleton” and “scribe” in and around literary fiction, pp. 136-150. DOI: 10.31249/chel/2023.03.07