Madness in Eudaimonia: a Critical Look at Cassandra Rios and the Marginalization of Lesbian Identity

Abstract

The article investigates Eudemônia (1958), by Cassandra Rios, through the lens of madness and the marginalization of lesbian identity. This novel was excluded from the Brazilian literary canon for addressing love between women, which was considered subversive. Censorship during the Vargas and military dictatorships hindered access to the work, and although Rios was one of the most widely read authors of the 20th century in Brazil, her production was dismissed as subliterature. Drawing on the works of Butler (2003), Lugarinho (2008), Londero (2016), among others, this study aims to interpret how the novel challenges gender and sexuality norms by constructing complex characters. The protagonist, Eudemônia Forbes, defies social standards and is committed to a psychiatric hospital, where her identity is pathologized. Accordingly, the medical-psychiatric discourse is examined as a mechanism of social exclusion. The article thus outlines a panorama of homoaffective representation in Brazilian literature and highlights Cassandra Rios’s contribution to the visibility of lesbian characters. It also emphasizes the contrast between the notion of eudaimonia – full realization – and the protagonist’s trajectory, marked by institutional violence against dissident women. Finally, it advocates for the academic reevaluation of the author in order to recognize her literary and social significance.