Under the Sign of Madness: Herman Melville and Lúcio Cardoso

Abstract

This article aimed to analyze, in Bartleby, the clerk, by Herman Melville, and Crônica da casa assassinada, by Lúcio Cardoso, the concept of madness in literature, since the characters portrayed would represent, metaphorically, the presence of an unsubmissive figure and contrary to the expected social model, which would guarantee them, in this sense, the nickname crazy, or insane. Thus, we sought to glimpse, in the novels analyzed, a set of narratives permeated by physical, social, moral and even mental ruins and rubble, a poetics of degradation and insanity in western literature. To define the concept of madness and its consequences in the literary text, this work was based on the contributions of Michel Foucault (2002) and Gilles Deleuze (1997). From this perspective, it was possible to analyze the representation of madness in the literary text through a metaphorical reading of the characters portrayed.