Crumbling Foundations: Decay and the Brazilian Gothic in Lúcio Cardoso's Chronicle of the Murdered House

Abstract

This article intends to analyze Lúcio Cardoso’s novel Chronicle of the Murdered House, in order to investigate the representation of decay in the narrative, as well as its association with sexuality and death, based on the textual materiality of this work of literature. It also seeks to comprehend how these elements structure the narrative and contribute to the creation of a Gothic atmosphere, marked by the moral and physical ruin of the Meneses family, and the disintegration of their spaces. Furthermore, it examines the configuration of the Meneses country house, a central element in the story, which highlights the conflicts presented in the novel. Thus, this article considers the locus horribilis of the Country House and other Gothic tropes included in the narrative, associating them with the historical and cultural context of Brazil, which gives Cardoso's Gothic characteristics that are unique and distinct from European Gothic literature, despite its evident dialogue with this aesthetic tradition.