O grotesco como crítica social em De gados e homens, de Ana Paula Maia

Abstract

This research investigates the grotesque as an aesthetic and critical resource in contemporary Brazilian literature, taking Ana Paula Maia's novel De gados e homens (2013) as its object of analysis. The narrative, set in a slaughterhouse, exposes the banalization of death, the dehumanization of labor, and the precariousness of marginalized lives, employing a raw writing style that combines elements of romantic grotesque and dirty realism. Based on the conceptions of Bakhtin (1987; 2010), Kayser (1986), and the notion of the abject as outlined by Kristeva (1980), the analysis demonstrates that the grotesque in the work is not limited to visual shock, but operates as a critical language, revealing forms of structural violence naturalized in everyday life. The results show that Maia moves between the grotesque and the abject to challenge the boundaries between human and inhuman, denouncing the logic of disposability that permeates bodies, relationships, and modes of existence. It can be concluded that the grotesque aesthetic in the work constitutes an instrument of ethical reflection and social critique, broadening the debate on contemporary literature and its ways of representing violence.