The refusal of denegation of the hunger in Rodolfo Teófilo: a psychoanalytic reading

Abstract

The present article discusses the coalescence of natural and sanitary situations (such as droughts, storms or pandemics) with the way by which they are treated politically and the outcome: the production of collective catastrophes in the Brazilian historical tradition. One addresses the way these social traumas are usually denied by the official narrative, returning, in turn, via oral tradition and literature, which convey the testimony of actors who, apart from state support – or even with their explicit opposition – build paths to face urgencies, articulating solutions and mobilizing social ties. Rodolfo Teófilo, writer and pharmacist from Ceará, who lived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a period marked by hunger and long droughts, is one of these actors, responsible for acts of popular resistance. His books embody an attitude that is reflected not only in his life, but also in the events of his time. His narrative aims to defend the dignity of drought victims, who were confined in concentration camps outside the urban perimeter of Fortaleza. He also carried out smallpox vaccination campaigns that mainly affected the most disadvantaged population. His work, which has not yet received the deserved attention of critics, is today more thought-provoking and pertinent than ever, given that the same attitudes of disrespect and disregard for the most vulnerable are also being adopted by the leaders responsible for creating coping solutions for Covid-19. From a psychoanalytical perspective, with the concepts of denegation and disallowance, the books of Rodolfo Teófilo are problematized, treating them as the materialization of an aesthetic of melancholy and the testimony of a traumatic memory. The sertanejo is taken as a paradigm of otherness. Hunger and drought, as a paradigm of a collective subjective catastrophe. Hence one discusses the writer's legacy for the current political, cultural and health scenario.