BETWEEN THE ROCKY AND BLOODY SOIL AND THE ANNIHILATION OF THE SUBJECT

THE NEOREGIONALIST HORROR IN ON EARTH AS IT IS BENEATH (2017), BY ANA PAULA MAIA

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the configuration of neoregionalist horror in Ana Paula Maia's work, On Earth As It Is Beneath (2017). The narrative, set in an isolated penal colony built on an old slave cemetery, is explored as a metaphor for violence and the disposal of bodies in contemporary Brazil, specifically in the so-called "deep Brazil." The methodology of this research is centered on the key term Bakhtinian Plurivocalism, as a way to group a set of voices that clash within the narrative. Furthermore, we rely on Bakhtin's (2002) reflections, focusing on polyphony and dialogism in the work. Regarding the aesthetics of horror, we refer to Carroll (1990) and Tarêncio (2022). As for the critical foundation on space and society, we directly engage with the perspectives of Harvey (2005), Brito (2016), and Candido (2023). As a result, we conclude that the configuration of neoregionalist horror manifests itself in Maia's work as a critique of a society that dehumanizes the individual and turns them into refuse, showing that, in the "stony ground" of Deep Brazil, which is a territory of exception, in which the slave-owning past and capitalist logic converge to the physical and ontological annihilation of the marginalized subject, the dehumanization of subjects occurs through work.