Apprenticeship as maladjustment: reflections on Resumo de Ana, by Modesto Carone

Abstract

This paper analyses Resumo de Ana (1998), written by the Brazilian author Modesto Carone, based on the concept of apprenticeship novel. The situations which are narrated in the book are focused on two characters, Ana and Ciro, mother and son, and cover a period of one hundred years of Brazilian history. As far as the characters are concerned, particularly Ana, the scarce aesthetic education they acquire ends up bringing forth maladjustment, since it collides with both social and historical events, which frustrate their, even if faint, aspirations, the latter having been caused by their contact with opera, music and elementary notions of elegance and civility. In order to situate the discussion, a brief introduction to the reflexions on Bildungsroman in Brazil is initially made, for it is not only frequently associated with the comprehension of some very important texts produced in Brazil, but also with the impasse of the formation of the nation itself, once such texts are taken into account.