CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE PRODUCED IN MATO GROSSO:
Trends of the fantastic in Azul de Fevereiro, by Eduardo Mahon
Fantastic literature produced in Mato Grosso. Contemporary tales. Postmodernism. Azul de fevereiro. Eduardo Mahon.
This work addresses the trends of the fantastic in contemporary Brazilian literature produced in Mato Grosso, specifically, from the analysis of the book of short stories Azul de Fevereiro (2018), by writer Eduardo Mahon. For this purpose, nine among the sixty short stories that make up the work were selected, using as a selection criterion the presence of elements common to the fantastic narrative, such as the representations of the mirror, death and, mainly, the presence of characters that seem displaced and fragmented in the face of the liquidity of the relationships produced in contemporary society, which even reflects in the construction of their identities and in their recognition. Thus, the relevance of this work is based on the possibility of demonstrating how fantastic literature provides opportunities to discuss and discuss issues related to the rupture of man's fixed identity, his conflicts, his being in the world, as well as to bring a critique to society modern that, at times, overlaps the appearance with the essence, putting in check the real values inherent to the human being and its nature. From this perspective, the concepts related to identity and literature in post-modernity are presented, as well as the characteristics and definitions around the contemporary short story (genre studied in this research), linking them to the conceptualizations and developments inherent to fantastic literature for, then, to present the narrative world and the unusual issues present in the work of Eduardo Mahon, among them, those that address the theme of the double, which is very marked in Mahonian productions. The theoretical-methodological basis that supports this research is composed, among others, by the studies by Furtado (1980), Todorov (2004), Sartre (2005), Roas (2014), Pierini (2017) and Matagrano and Tavares (2019), with regard specifically to fantastic literature. With regard to the contemporary short story, the research was supported by contributions from Piglia (2004), Cortázar (2008) and Bosi (2015). To understand the concepts related to postmodernism, Hall (2006), Coelho (2011), Eagleton (2019) and Fernandes (2019) also served as the basis for this study. Finally, by completing this research, it is expected to contribute to studies related to Brazilian literature produced in Mato Grosso, highlighting the aspects of the fantastic as a tool capable of reflecting the conflicts of modern man and the cracks present in society, in view of that, many times, literature makes it possible to understand and give new meaning to the way this man is and of being in the world.