Do salão ao cortiço: a comensalidade como marcador social na literatura brasileira oitocentista

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.22533/at.ed.8178142505095

• Palavras-chave: sociabilidade alimentar, literatura brasileira oitocentista, Romantismo e Realismo, Naturalismo.

• Keywords: Food-related sociability; Commensality; 19th-century Brazilian literature; Romanticism and Realism; Naturalism

• Abstract: This study investigates food-related sociability in 19th-century Brazilian literature, analyzing its transition from Romanticism to Realism. Based on the novels Lucíola, Diva, and Senhora by José de Alencar and O Cortiço by Aluísio Azevedo, the research examines how food and commensality practices reflect the social and cultural changes of the period. In Romantic novels, food appears associated with luxury and social hierarchy, with dinners and teas marking European influence and bourgeois values. In Realism, in accordance with the naturalist aesthetics adopted by Azevedo, food assumes a role linked to necessity and cultural adaptation, highlighting inequalities and processes of transformation, such as the "Brazilianization" of the character Jerônimo. The analysis shows that food, more than a descriptive element, is a fundamental social marker in 19th-century Brazilian literature, revealing the tensions, aspirations, and exclusions of the time. The study contributes to interdisciplinary food studies by emphasizing its relevance in constructing identities and social dynamics in literary fiction.