Maria! Não me mates, que sou tua mãe!, de Camilo Castelo Branco: uma teodiceia literária

Abstract

This article proposes a reading of Maria! Não Me Mates, que Sou Tua Mãe! (1848), by Camilo Castelo Branco, with a special focus on the narration instance. The analysis of the narrator’s perspective, configured by the rhetorical pathos, will lead to a reflection on this Camillian narrative in the light of theodicy attempts as investigated by Immanuel Kant. Since the sapiential book of the Old Testament, the problem of theodicy has arisen when the good man Job, facing a catastrophe of unusual evils, perseveres in his belief in God. The Kantian reading of the Book of Job, a substantial hypotext in Camillian fiction, will allow us to elucidate this particular narrative in its theodicy bias, namely based on Kant’s critique of doctrinal theodicy