This essay reexamines the novel O cortiço [The Slum], by Aluísio Azevedo, considering the new economic criticism, which has emerged in the field of literary studies in the last decades. The author of the article is interested in shedding light to the theme of capitalism development in the naturalist fiction, of the end of XIX century, to reflect on the present economical crisis that took place in 2008, and from which our society is still suffering its impact. The essay focuses on fundamental principles to the development of the novel's main character, João Romão, such as greed, ethics, trust, speculation, as part of a capitalist project, tied at the same time, to a project of modernity.
Aluísio Azevedo; O cortiço; economical criticism; money; capital; Marxism; ethics; naturalism; modernity