Failed Performances: The Tragic Search for Patriarchal Identity in Nelson Rodrigues’ Album de Família and Anjo Negro.

• In Event: Hegemony and Masculinity in Latin American Literature

Abstract

Frequently academics have accused Brazilian playwright Nelson Rodrigues of supporting sexism in his work. However, in this presentation I will complicate the traditional understanding of Rodrigues’ deployment of notions of gender to argue that his use of hyper-masculinity works as a criticism of Brazilian society. In this paper I highlight the role of performance for the establishment of patriarchal identities in two of Nelson Rodrigues’ ‘mythic’ plays: "Álbum de Família" (1945) and "Anjo Negro" (1946). I read both plays as tragic family dramas in which men seek strategically to establish their identities as patriarchs through a complex series of performances. Further, I argue that in order to fulfill their desired role, these men also require the recognition of other members of the family. I contend that both dramas evolve as a series of Lacanian power-plays between these ‘patriarchs’ and their wives --and to a lesser extent other family members-- who do not recognize their power (and therefore control their identities). Thus, while at first glance the male characters appear to be the most powerful figures in their families, the plays quickly reveal that these men are also imprisoned by the very ideals upon which their patriarchal power supposedly resides. Through a formal reading of both works I will show that the plays actually highlight faults in the patriarchal ideology of the Brazilian family and, in so doing, underscores the instability at the heart of the gendered notions at its foundations.

Author

• Marcos M Cerdeira, Brown University