NUANCES ON THE DISCOURSE OF MADNESS, GENDER IDENTITY AND SEXUALITY IN PRIMEIRAS ESTÓRIAS BY GUIMARÃES ROSA

Abstract

This article aims to analyze, from a discursive perspective, how the discourse of madness plays a role in the construction of gender and sexuality identities in three short stories of the book Primeiras Estórias (1962) written by the Brazilian author Guimarães Rosa (2005): "Sorôco, sua mãe, sua filha", "A menina de lá", and "A terceira margem do rio" (in Portuguese). It draws on the Foucauldian Discourse Analysis (1992, 2019, 2020) interfaced with assumptions on “literature” as posited by Fernandes (2006) and on “authorship” as posited by Figueira-Borges (2019). The analysis demonstrates that the discourse of madness interferes with the subjects- characters' identity constructions of gender and sexuality, defining social and historical bodily practices for men and women in the narrative of Rosa's short stories.