Using the essential elements oftragic action described in Aristotles Poetics, tbe text compares João Cabral de Melo Neto's Morte e vida severina to Sopbocles Oedipus rex witb tbepurpose ofbringing to light tbe tension tbat exists between buman necessity and buman action. It is an eminently epidemiologicalfact tbat draws a link between tbese two works. In Morte e vida severina, tbe causa efficiens behind Severino's decision to migrate is afamine; in Oedipus rex, aplagne afflicting tbe inbabitants ofThebes is tbe event tbat hastens discovery ofking Lainss tnie assassin. It is a reflection on tbefinalis and formalis canses behind Severino's and Oedipus's movements and on tbe essential elements oftragic action tbat allows a transitory falsification or, betterput, a rejection oftbe hypotbesis that Morte e vida severina is a tragedy, at least not in Aristotelian terms.
epidemiology; literature; Greek tragedy; philosophy of history