Luiz Ruffato and the epic of the Brazilian proletariat

Abstract

This article analyzes the novel Inferno Provisório, by contemporary Brazilian writer Luiz Ruffato. Based on György Lukács' theorizing in "The Novel as Bourgeois Epic" and "Narrate or Describe", it takes up the Lukácsian elements that constitute the epic character of the novel, namely typicality, totality and action, and seeks to identify whether and to what extent these elements are constitutive of Ruffato's work. The aspect of totality is emphasized, raising hypotheses about how this element is presented in the set of fragmentary and non-linear narratives that make up Inferno Provisório. The structural differences between the two editions of the work are addressed and the possibility of inserting Ruffato's political-literary project into what could be a tradition of the proletarian novel in Brazil is suggested.