As Mulheres de Tijucopapo, Marilene Felinto (1982): romance de maternidade sob perspectiva da relação mãe e filha

Abstract

This study analyzes the novel As Mulheres de Tijucopapo (1982), by Marilene Felinto, through the proposition of the analytical category motherhood novel, understood as a reading framework for comprehending narratives in which the maternal experience assumes a structuring role in both the organization of the plot and the construction of female characters. Through bibliographical research and an analytical-interpretative reading of the corpus, the study investigates how the narrator-protagonist, Rísia, reconstructs the maternal experience through memory, revealing a form of motherhood marked by ambivalence, conflict, precariousness, and resistance. The objectives are to analyze motherhood from the perspective of the daughter-narrator and to outline analytical criteria that make it possible to characterize As Mulheres de Tijucopapo as a motherhood novel within the context of contemporary Brazilian literature. Grounded in a feminist and intersectional theoretical approach, the research is organized into three chapters: the first discusses the historical constitution of the novel and formulates the concept of the motherhood novel; the second examines family relationships and the processes of the protagonist’s subjective formation; and the third proposes criteria for identifying this subgenre in the work under analysis. The findings indicate that Felinto’s novel shifts motherhood from the realm of idealization to that of critical problematization, highlighting the centrality of maternal experience in the narrative configuration and contributing to the expansion of interpretative possibilities for motherhood in Brazilian literature.