Darkness in the Seasonal Savannah: The Brazilian Cerrado in Stories by Hugo de Carvalho Ramos

Abstract

This article analyzes the feelings that emerge in savannah landscapes, specifically in the Brazilian savannah (Cerrado), through the short stories Dias de Chuva and Gente da Gleba, by the writer Hugo de Carvalho Ramos (1895—1921). The two stories, which are part of the collection Tropas e Boiadas (1917), contain traces of Tropical Gothic literature. The Cerrado landscape is marked by climatic seasonality that manifests itself in two well-defined seasons: humid summers (where there is plenty of rain) and dry winters (with no rain and the incidence of large fires). In the analyzed works, blue and red are considered fundamental colours that help us understand the sentiments that mark the landscape in each season. It is suggested that yearnings and expectations about the future are feelings strongly manifested in the wet season and are associated with the processes of gestation and dissolution of life promoted by water. Fears and regrets, on the other hand, emerge with more force in the face of the destructiveness of fire in the dry season, under the red that dominates the landscape. Loneliness and indifference are two feelings that are omnipresent in both seasons and manifest as blue and red indifference.