The name of the man: the fictional nomination and family decadence in “The Buddenbrooks” and “The Maias”

The theme of decay in “The Buddenbrooks: decline of a family” is explicit: it materializes as a subtitle of the literary work. In “The Maias”, an essential structure of the previous title is repeated, focusing on a family name. It is known, however, beforehand, that the plot contemplated by the novel by Thomas Mann will run through episodes whose outcome lies in the decaying decay of the generations of the Buddenbrook family, which, although not explicit, is repeated in the work of Eça de Queirós. In order to achieve the desired aesthetic theme, the two authors focus on the generation of fictional families, stripping down social thoughts and roles. Of this stripping, a trait is shown to be shared by almost all personalities: a concern with the perpetuation of the family name; a burden that presages the total extinction of both anthroponyms. In order to demonstrate the relationship of the nomination with the decay thematic, this article proposes a dialogue between Comparative Literature and Fictional Anthroponomics - study of fictional names - and the status of the process of depersonalization composed of the family name to the top of the decay: the social not give birth of the name.

Keywords:
The Buddenbrooks: decline of a family; The Maias; Literary onomastic; Fictional anthroponomics; Thematic of decay