Popular culture and regionalism in the novel "O Matuto" of Franklin Távora

Abstract

This article analyzes the notions of people, popular and region in O matuto (1878), by Franklin Távora, in which the Guerra dos Mascates is narrated.  In a story that takes place on farms, somewhat distant from the events, the writer seeks to describe the characters of the North’s matuto, his "modus vivendi", seeking to differentiate him from the other inhabitants of the south. The author is part of a context in which indigenous traditions have been replaced by popular culture as a symbol of nationality. In this sense, he presents a dubiousness: the “matuto” man is strong, is loyal, is honest, is true, but is also violent, licentious, ignorant, bandit. Távora solves this problem by creating the image of an obedient, resigned and hardworking man, to whom the reader must nurture sympathy. He is condemning the people, because he had him as very distant from the citizen of the republic he wanted to establish; and idealizing the popular, as the cultural substrate of the imaginary nation.