UMA JANGADA DO TAMANHO DO BRASIL

ANÁLISE DE UM CLÁSSICO DE JÚLIO VERNE

Abstract

Although it is not as well known as some of the other books that are part of the “Extraordinary Journeys” by French writer Jules Verne, the book “Eight Hundred Leagues on the Amazon”, released in the second half of the 19^th century, brings some of the key features of the author’s works: the primacy of the geographical aspect of the plot, the detailed descriptions of the landscape and some encyclopedism, that happens parallel to the adventure. In this research, we analyze how the book draws a portrait of Brazil made by a European writer (who has never visited the country) at a time when the taste for reports of “exotic” lands was common. We observe the points of contact with reality, the fictionalization, the attention to the details and some mistakes. To make the analysis richer, sometimes on resort, alongside the Portuguese edition, also the French (original language of the story) and English editions; this allows, for example, more properly analyze some linguistic choices, both of the author and the editor.