''O Ateneu'' (

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

: ''The Athenaeum'') is a novel written by the Brazilian author

Raul Pompeia Raul d'Ávila Pompeia (April 12, 1863 – December 25, 1895) was a Brazilian novelist, short story writer and chronicler. He is famous for the Impressionist romance ''O Ateneu''. He is patron of the 33rd chair of the Brazilian Academy of Letters ...

in 1888, which is considered one of the most prominent examples of Brazilian Naturalism,

Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating ...

and

Realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: *Classical Realism *Literary realism, a move ...

. The book narrates, in the first person, the story of Sérgio, an eleven-year-old boy who is sent to a well-respected all-male

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

—known as ''the Ateneu'', hence the book's title—by his father. The Ateneu has very strict rules imposed by its

headmaster A head master, head instructor, bureaucrat, headmistress, head, chancellor, principal or school director (sometimes another title is used) is the teacher, staff member of a school with the greatest responsibility for the management of the school ...

—Aristarco—which cause a general sense of riot amongst the students;

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...

is common amongst most students, which is partially explained due to the presence of just one woman in the school—the nurse and wife of Aristarco, Dona Ema—and the lack of contact with the external world.

Plot introduction

The general concept of the novel is that of describing the leaving of one's childhood dreams behind, and the consequences which come from growing up and having to face life. The main character, Sérgio, is commonly accepted as being an

alter ego An alter ego (Latin for "other I", " doppelgänger") means an alternate self, which is believed to be distinct from a person's normal or true original personality. Finding one's alter ego will require finding one's other self, one with a differen ...

of Pompeia at a younger age.

Plot summary

Sérgio is left at the age of eleven on the doorsteps of the Ateneu by his father and enters the school for the first time. It immediately becomes clear the sexual references by the headmaster's statement to Sérgio's father in the beginning of the book: "You should see a coiffeur, and cut this blondy hair of yours. You know, the pretty boys in this school, don't go along very well". After, he is eventually approached by two older students—Sanches and Bento Alves—who try to engage into a homosexual relationship with him, but he does not accept the proposal. Sérgio then approaches a rebellious boy named Franco in order to avoid their company. Since Franco is constantly disciplined by the headmaster, Sérgio cuts his friendship with the boy, out of fear of facing the same fate. He then meets a boy named Egbert and becomes very close to him; their relationship does not develop beyond friendship mostly due to the sexual and emotional feelings Sérgio nourishes for the school's nurse—Dona Ema. Towards the end of the book, a student sets fire to the Ateneu, burning the whole structure down. The fire is a metaphor which represents the end of a chapter in Sérgio's life, as he progresses towards maturity.

Selected passages

#Portuguese: "'"
English: "Thou shalt meet the world, told me my father, at the doorsteps of the Ateneu. Get courage for the fight! I later experienced the truth of that warning, which undressed me, in one gesture, of the illusions of a child educated exotically in the greenhouse of tenderness which is the regime of domestic love, different from what is found outside, so different, that it makes the poem of the maternal love seem to be a sentimental artifice, with the only advantage of making the creature more sensitive to the rude impression of the first teaching, burning search for vitality under the influence of a harsh new weather." 1880s novels 1880s LGBT novels 1888 novels Brazilian LGBT novels Brazilian novels Gay male romance novels Gay male teen fiction LGBT in Brazil Naturalist novels Novels with bisexual themes Novels with gay themes Realist novels

References

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