The real and the fictional

the backlands of São Francisco in the novels Os cabras do coronel e A Dama do Velho Chico

Abstract

Literature is produced from the imaginary construction of writers who cast a glance at reality and interpret it, thus constituting symbolic universes. With this, it is observed that Wilson Lins in his novel Os cabras do coronel (1964) and Carlos Barbosa in A Dama do Velho Chico (2002), when casting their eyes on the sertanejo universe of São Francisco, recreate in their novels possibilities of representation of that space. The dramas of the sertanejos portrayed for a long time as the eternal migrants, are reconfigured and reveal their experiences amid the bad weather, building their ways of life. The relationship established between the real and the fictional, allowed us to present some discussions about the concept of credible presented by Tzvetan Todorov (2003) and how Language and Literature are articulated for the constitution of the literary text guided by Lúcia Castelo Branco and Ruth Silva Silviano Brandão (1995). In this way, the dramas of the sertanejos portrayed for a long time as the eternal migrants, are reconfigured and reveal the experiences of a people who, amid the bad weather, constitute their ways of life culturally enriched and fertilized by the waters of the Velho Chico.