A nobreza doutural da bruzundanga: Profissionais liberais e fetiche do coutoramento no Brasil

Abstract

It analyses, from the work Os Bruzundangas (1922) by Lima Barreto, the Brazilian fascination with the title of Doctor, and the need to display it showed by some liberal professionals. First of all, it is synthesized the Lima Barreto’s work, emphasizing the treatment and the satire made by the author to doctors and to the doctoral style of the 1910s. Then, it discusses the historical construction of the association between the title and the social value of the power and prestige, highlighting, on the one hand, the Lusitanian tradition of baccalaureate, and, on the other hand, the scholastic culture promoted by D. Pedro II. It discourses, so, about the contemporary attempts of appropriation and/or maintenance of doctorate by lawyers, judges, doctors and others health professionals. Finally, it discusses the problem of discursive point of view, raising some linguistic and ideological issues involved.