João Guimarães Rosa's Grande sertão: veredas and Thomas Mann's Doctor Faustus are interpreted in form of a dialog guided by common themes - like Faust and the pact -, but primarily by convergences on the narrative level - like the uses of allegory and the treatment of spatial metaphors in order to critically reflect History. After a short comment on already existing comparative studies of the two novels, I will analyze the above mentioned aspects by three examples: the presence of the Faust tradition in the novels, Riobaldo and Adrian Leverkühn dealing with the devil as allegories of 20th century Brazil and Germany, and the narrative functions of the fictitious town of Kaisersaschern and the sertão's Liso do Suçuarão.
João Guimarães Rosa; Thomas Mann; Grande sertão: veredas; Doctor Faustus; Pact; Comparative literature