The Unsivilized Figure as Cultural Hero of Artifice: Suassuna’s João Grilo and Twain’s Huck Finn
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25094/rtp.2021n32a774Keywords:
Ariano Suassuna, Mark Twain, trickster, pícaro, marginalized figuresAbstract
In their close ties to a folkloric past, and in a conscientious effort to dialogue with a far-reaching literary inheritance, the Brazilian Ariano Suassuna (1927-2014) and the U.S.’s Mark Twain (1835-1910) present regional protagonists who negotiate roles as heroes of artifice. As they feed off models of the Trickster and pícaro, an analysis based on cognitive and psychosocial theory reveals a João Grilo and Huck Finn that model valued skills as socioeconomically marginalized figures on the outskirts of civilization. In Auto da Compadecida (1955) and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), both Suassuna and Twain manage to highlight these skills by creating character duos that mimic the cognitive counterpointing between Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quijote and Sancho Panza.
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