The Feminine Gothic and the Role of Women in the Stories 'Under the Stars' and 'The Neurosis of Color' by Júlia Lopes de Almeida

Abstract

The present work comprises the constitution of the feminine gothic in the tales “Sob as estrelas” and “A neurose da cor”, both present in the collection of tales Ânsia eterna (1903), by the brazilian writer Júlia Lopes de Almeida. In this sense, the hypothesis is presented that aspects of this strand are aligned with a female perspective that is expressed by the role of female characters in the narratives. With this, the objective is to investigate the aspects of the feminine gothic in the author's tales, in addition to analyzing the role of the protagonists in relation to this feminine perspective that, sometimes, expresses the anguish of being a woman in society, which results in the presence of an identity narrative.  Thus, the research that followed this article is bibliographical, descriptive and analytical, using for theoretical support the studies proposed by Beauvoir (1949), Woolf (1929), Zolin (2009), Moers (1976) and Williams (1995), which have as a focus the study of aspects of literary fiction written by women.  With the verification of the role played by the protagonists of the short stories in terms of this gender perspective, a recurrent characteristic in women's authorship, it is possible to conclude that Almeida's production impacts the scenario of brazilian female literary historiography, as it verbalizes, in your texts, the challenge and weight of the female experience in the patriarchal context as “the second sex”, becoming a reference in the representation of the desire of countless women for freedom of expression.