O tempo, a ficção e a morte: as escritas de Augusto dos Anjos (1901-1920)

Abstract

The poetic activity of Augusto dos Anjos (1884-1914), born in Paraíba, is usually associated to his single book, “Eu”, published in Rio de Janeiro, in 1912, as well to its second, posthumous edition named “Eu (Poesias Completas)”, whose publishing occurred in Paraiba, in 1920. Due to the title “Poet of Death”, given to him because of the prevailing theme in both editions of his book of verses, some studies read his poetic images as if they are expressions of his own personality, which would be as morbid as his literary representations. Other studies focus more on stylistic traits and its belonging, or not, to schools or literary movements. Others, search on social and economic aspects as the reason for the shape and content of his verses. In our research, we seek to elaborate an analysis of his verses from a historiographical perspective. Knowing that, our goal has been to investigate the historical meanings expressed on the verses of Augusto dos Anjos and its articulations with the sensibilities derived from the modern temporality. To do so, alongside the compilation of poetic texts present in both editions of “Eu”, we also included the texts that remained published only in newspapers and periodicals from Paraíba. Our research takes in his poetic activity began in 1901, until the publishing of the second edition of his book, in 1920. Researching this period of time, we were able to identify articulations of his verses with the historical meanings present in its time layer. To approach the source and elaborate the intended discussions, we had as our main methodology, theoretical and conceptual foundation some thoughts proposed by Reinhart Koselleck (2006, 2014), Pierre Bourdieu (2010), Luiz Costa Lima (1980, 2012), Wolfgang Iser (2002, 1999), Phillipe Lejeune (2008), Alain Corbin (1991), Phillpe Ariès (2012) and Paul Ricoeur (2014). Through the dialogue with these and other authors, it was possible to understand the relation between Augusto dos Anjos’ poetry and the dynamic of the literary field, the discussions about temporality and historical time; the possibilities of mimesis and fiction; the experiences that comes with individualization; the history of death even as its agents and spaces; as well as the relations between narrative and identity. Evaluating the results we gathered, we considered that the poetic by Augusto dos Anjos, on the brink of another centenary, continues fertile of problematization and historical meanings when it dialogues with three dimensions: the Time, the Fiction and the Death.