Des(paths) of love and its labyrinths in Cruel Love, Avenging Love by Maria José de Queiroz

Abstract

This research aims to present a fictional analysis of the work Amor Cruel, Amor Vingador (1996), by Maria José de Queiroz, in particular, the five short stories that make up the narrative – “O Juramento”; “Old man with young woman”; “Initiation to the treatise on despair”; “Ritinha-Chiquê ou A hora do carvoeiro” and “A morte ao pé da literal” –, seeking to understand their enigmas and labyrinths. In them, you can see a plot based on the dualities of love, plots that thoroughly describe good and evil and enigmatic stories, unhealthy loves that will lead to murders and suicides. Our investigation consists of critical-theoretical, deductive and analytical bibliographical research. Authors such as Maria Lúcia Barbosa (2018), Lyslei Nascimento (1995), among others, are used for discussions. As the narrative unfolds, it is noted that the narrators draw our attention to suspense stories and police plots involved in the description of marginalized classes – for example, women who, marked by the need to belong to the male universe, erect strategies of resistance to the silencing. Therefore, love and hate in Maria José de Queiroz's plots, in a denunciatory, metaphorical and ironic way, point to events that represent social ills, such as current patriarchalism and inequality between the sexes, as a way of highlighting male power. in society.