Riobaldo, Hans Castorp, Wilheim Meister: viajantes em Formação

Abstract

This essay discusses, in a comparative perspective, three great novels of World Literature: Grande Sertão: Veredas (1956), The Magic Mountain (1924) and Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship (1795/6). After a brief introductory reflection about the astrological motif, the critical argumentation focuses on the procedures the Rosian narrator mobilizes to express his complex experience with time. Also using this approach, the analysis is extended to Thomas Mann’s novel, which is a paradigm of novelistic reflection on the phenomenon of “time”. Then, also in a comparative view, we proceed to investigate other topics, focusing on the symbolism of the number seven, the motif of the pact, and the meaning of money and private property to the novelistic economy. From the latter emerged the need to incorporate into the discussion the Goethian novel, the founder of the Bildungsroman. A brief ecocritical consideration makes up the essay’s conclusion.