Analysis of the novel "As Horas Nuas", by Lígia Fagundes Telles
The fictional novel “As Horas Nuas”, by Lígia Fagundes Telles, is a modern narrative that focuses on the attitude and posture of the common man. It presents a fragmented plot, portraying actions, behaviors and customs of individuals and the society in which it is inserted.
The author emphasizes the behavior of characters in interaction with society, portraying in a subjective way dilemmas and contradictions of the human soul, which moves between values, appeals from the materialist social world and massive. Thus, it projects reality and emphasizes its reflection in the individual's life.
In the novel under study, the narrator seeks to adapt the language to the coming and going of actions advancing and regressing, confirming the vitality of time. So the reader is introduced into the plot, knowing and subtly penetrating the complexity, which is based on the existential conflicts of the characters and which is reflected in the current problems of the society.
The novel presents a multi-significant language rooted in the constant use of foreign words “Hasta siempre”, “illustration”. "Formes et couleurs", in the figures of speech:
Metaphors, “I close my eyes and see my daughter floating in the river of the superfluous”;
Personification present in the figure of the cat;
Euphemism “age of maturity”;
And in the intertextuality that appears in Rosa's childhood nostalgia, where she recalls the classic “João e Maria”, in the cirandas “O cravo ea rosa”, in the memories of the “old República Square transformed by the disorderly growth of the city”, in excerpts taken from the biblical commandments “don't judge and you shall not be judged” and in detective fiction literature “It's elementary my dear wattson".
The narrative features round characters: Rosa Ambrósio, Rahul (the cat), Ananta Medrado and Diogo.
ROSA AMBRÓSIO protagonist of the narrative, she is an actress who lives reminiscing about an unhappy childhood and adolescence. She recalls the peak of her decadent career as an actress and in her eagerness to escape reality, she drowns in alcoholism.
It oscillates between moments of delusions, lust and lucidity. The actress was a very hurt person for life. Hurt and suspicious, she was abandoned by her father early on and lost the first and greatest love of her life, cousin Miguel. From then on, she seeks comfort in the friendly shoulder of a hitherto unknown, Gregory, who would soon become the father of her only child.
A relapsed mother, Rosa Ambósio maintains a somewhat troubled and prejudiced relationship with her daughter, of which she is jealous. She envy the daughter's youth and good relationship with her father.
Alone and unhappy, he seeks comfort in the arms of his secretary and lover, Diogo. She then starts to bear his extravagances and put up with his follies, thus assuming a masochistic posture. Fearing old age, which she prefers to call the “age of maturity”, she also seeks refuge in the analysis sessions and solidarity of the housekeeper Dionísia.
The actress presents an ambiguous behavior: despite living in an unruly way, she criticizes the futility of humanity, arriving to the point of putting ethical and moral values into check, the fashions imposed by the media and their repercussion on the way of life of the society.
The character was not always rich; he changes his life when he receives an inheritance from his aunt.
RAHUL (the cat) is also the protagonist, he is a personified character. He thinks, acts, and behaves almost like a human reminiscing, making reflections on what happens. He has a strange relationship with actress Rosa Medrado, whom he calls Rosona. He demonstrates true adoration for Gregório, Rosa's late husband, and contempt for Diogo, her lover. He seems to live in the hope that the deceased will come back. So much so that he can see him walking around the house. Raul lives moments of fleeting memories, in which he believes he has lived other lives.
ANTAGONIST It is the existential crisis experienced by actress Rosa Ambrósio.
ANANTA─ A strangely behaving character, she demonstrates an obsession with a “man” she claims lives upstairs. She is an analyst and is also dedicated to social work at a Police Station for the Protection of Women. Ananta shows a tendency for mystery. Lonely, the analyst maintains a restricted circle of friends (the housekeeper, the residents of the building, and her friend Flávia), she mysteriously disappears without leaving any traces.
DIOGO ─ He was Rosa's secretary, and came to become her lover. Being young and handsome he acts like a gigolo, taking advantage of the actress' weaknesses to exploit her, blackmailing her with his comings and goings. She travels and never comes back.
Flat Characters
CORDÉLIA Daughter of Rosa and Gregório, the girl shows an independent and daring personality. She lives to maintain romantic relationships with older men, which shocks her mother. She is adept at fads and indifferent to her mother's existential crisis, as she identified more with her father.
GREGÓRIO Husband of Rosa and father of Cordelia. Educated young man and teacher. He meets his wife the day he is losing her great love. Gregory loved her in her way, yet he was betrayed by Rosa. He knew what was going on but pretended to ignore it. He had such a calm spirit that he died quietly so as not to disturb anyone. He only showed a struggle to defend the less fortunate. He was exiled and tortured. It anticipates death. She suffered from Parkinson's disease.
DIONYSIA ─ she Is more than a simple maid. She is also a confidant and friend. He is the one who seeks comfort in faith, to put up with Rosa's insanities.
MIGUEL─ Primo de Rosa, was the first and greatest love of the actress's life. She could never forget him. A spoiled boy and used to the good life of the wealthy, he enters the world of drugs and dies of an overdose.
RENATO MEDRADO ─ Appears near the end of the plot as the analyst's cousin. He is a suspicious character in the case of Ananta's disappearance. It is through his vision that the reader can have an idea about her childhood. He is very interested in rescuing his cousin's friendship, which he has shown indifference until then. This interest of his raises suspicion. What will be the real interest of Renato? Does he really want to find his cousin Ananta? Or is his interest in the goods she left behind?
DELEGATE – he also wants to know what happened to Ananta Medrado.
FLÁVIA – she Seems to be Ananta's only friend, but even she doesn't know her whereabouts.
Other Characters That Appear in Text
UNCLE ANDRÉ – Husband of aunt Lucinda.
AUNT LUCINDA – she was Miguel's mother. He liked to be of service to the community.
AUNT ANA - he left the inheritance to Rosa.
LILI – with an extroverted personality, appears from time to time at Rosa's house.
PLOT _ The novel has a multiplicity of narrators, who tell the plot in an unordered way. The action starts in a chapter, is fragmented and only after other chapters will it be resumed. Deviations from the plot, although they seem to break the rhythm of the action, on the contrary make the plot evolve, they are essential in the plot.
The author uses an adaptation of the language element to the comings and goings of the plot, moving forward and backward in the intertwining of the episodes, to establish the reality of time.
The plot is turned to the problematic of modern reality. Conflicts are subjectively experienced, but objectively appear as signs of chaotic reality, acting on the development and balance of the being.
Expressed in a multi-significant language, it reveals a profound existential disquiet of the human species. The characters are formed in a fluid and metamorphic process.
The narrative is centered on moments of inner experience of the characters, privileging subjectivity. These live in a constant dilemma between self and society's acceptance. The language used by the author is of fundamental importance for the constitution of the plot. This becomes the very experience of the characters. It is a reflection of their inner dilemmas, where there is a strong disconnect between the individual and society.
TIME AND SPACE _ Time and space merge in the modern narrative. In “As Horas Nuas”, time is psychological and subjective, accompanying the lives of the characters, therefore, “where the time is, there is the drama”. It is the characters' experiences that provide the reader with a true picture of the being, portraying their inner physiognomy through a constant and lasting flow of consciousness. Time and space are constructed in a disguised way in the characters' own experience
NARRATIVE FOCUS _ In the novel under study, the narrative presents a polyphonic discourse.
Right at the beginning there is the presence of a 1st person narrator, the character Rosa Ambrósio. In an interior monologue, she dives in and describes her past of pain and glory. She lives an existential crisis in search of her identity, denying current social values and not accepting old age and the end of her career as an actress.
I go into the room, I don't turn on the light, I want the dark. I trip over the soft and fall on top of this thing ah! My father.
“License Diu, don't take this the wrong way, but I'll stay here for a while...”.
It also brings the presence of a second narrator, the character narrator, personified in the figure of the cat (Rahul), He makes comments to respect for the characters, but his focus is on the figure of Rosa Ambrose and Gregory, to whom he demonstrates true adoration or fixation. Rahul's description of the characters is almost unhealthy. He minutely describes peculiar acts and even reads their innermost being. He sometimes even gives them a voice in free indirect speech, thus dressing himself in an omniscient narrator.
“Falses, I thought. Rosona came with her robe d’ interieur and her magnifying mirror that she hated but couldn't do without it.”
The arguments between the two E always began more or less like that, which could quickly develop into swear words interspersed with shoving. Tapas. Or have the outcome in bed.
She slowly spread her legs and began to apply the ink to her pubic hair.
The paths were crooked, but followed by them Rosona ended up getting it right. Gregory chose her death before being chosen. He foresaw what he could see, he anticipated and that future future must have gone beyond his power to bear.
In the fifth chapter a new narrator in 3rd person appears. This outsider introduces and thoroughly describes the character Ananta Medrado, a mysterious, methodical analyst with a calm and reserved personality.
“Ananta's office was that of a professional without vanity”. Disciplined... The flannel was folded in the corner of the drawer. He passed it on to the few objects and none superfluous.
_ I have a neighbor... Now I don't want to think about the professor with his theorems. It was the Neighbor's turn.
Ananta went to the window and pulled back the curtain to see the sky... After the session she could go (walking) to the woman's police station. That woman you can do so little for. So especially for the girl with the pierced breasts.
During the plot, other chapters are narrated in 3rd person, there are more actions and dialogues. Environments are described as scenes unfold. The narrator tells the disappearance of Ananta Medrado, Diogo's trip, the appearance of the analyst's cousin and Rosa's hospitalization in a recovery clinic.
I climb into the armchair. The room is dark, but I see Rosa Ambrosia... in the hearts of the three women.
Dear Mother, you said you were going to have lunch with me and you didn't, Cordelia complained.
Today did not wake up bright. Diu read the horoscope, there is a set of stars that is horrible.
“The chief of the missing persons police station was having coffee” Renato Medrado stopped...
_ He didn't wear jewelry, if he has any, it must be in the safe... Dollar? I can't say. The car...
Bibliography
LOBO, Luiza. Impressionist Fiction and the Flow of Consciousness (Joyce, V. Woolf, Proust). In: VASSALO, Ligia (Org.). The narrative yesterday and today. Rio de Janeiro: Tempo Brasileiro, 1984.
Analysis written by: Analita Dias Rebouças Oliveira
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Literature - Brazil School
