«O Coruja» by Aluísio Azevedo: A Unique Novel

Abstract

Within Aluísio Azevedo’s literary production, O coruja (The Owl) occupies a distinctive place. This is not a work corresponding to the consecrated features of serial novel genre. First published in the footnotes of the newspaper O Paiz in Rio de Janeiro, between June and October 1885, O coruja caught the readers' attention through its protagonist and his tragic destiny’s exceptional character. In it lies an implicit and fierce criticism of the negligence by the authorities of the time with regard to the Brazilian people’s education at the end of the Second Empire. With a published volume in 1887, this novel remained little known, having never reached the popularity of works such as O mulato (The Mulatto) or O cortiço (The Slum). This article seeks to shed light on the novel’s importance for the debate over the necessary educational reform in Brazil, a topic that raised a great stir between 1883-1884. It is a heated denunciation of a system that favoured (and still favours in the 21st century) a small minority, which is represented in the novel by the antithetical figure of Teobaldo: a corrupt and opportunist, the perfect paradigm of the Brazilian ruling class.