Peljas for a dream of writing: a look at Ariano Suassuna's intellectual history in the light of his novel
Ariano Suassuna; Novel; Intellectual history; Authorship; Literature
This research problematizes the intellectual history of the writer Ariano Suassuna from his literary production (1927-2014). The writer, who was born in the Brazilian state of Paraíba, is best known for his work as a playwright, especially the play Auto da Compadecida. Suassuna acted in different fields. He was a professor, director of the extension department of UFPE (Pernambuco Federal University) where the Armorial Movement germinated; he also held political positions related to the cultural portfolio in both Recife and Pernambuco State, disseminated his historical-cultural conceptions in the itinerant project of lecture shows, wrote columns for different regional and national newspapers, among other activities. This ensured him not only visibility but also the legitimation of a given discursive authority on some themes and issues, including mainly popular culture. Considering the interdisciplinary relations between history and literature, in the light, specifically, of the contributions and theoretical-methodological provocations of literary criticism to the field of intellectual history, post linguistic turn, we start from the perspective that author and work are
built alongside. In this sense, we seek to analyze Suassuna's novel problematizing his approaches and distances in relation to the whole of his work and the intellectual position he forged for himself. His novels Romance d’A Pedra do Reino (1971), O Rei Degolado (1977), and Romance de Dom Pantero (2017) - the latter published posthumously - are the problem source for this research. This analytical itinerary was conducted in a dialogue with the propositions, among others, of Paul Ricoeur (1994, 1997), Michel Foucault (2009), Roland Barthes (2004)