Elitism for the people: Cesario Verde and the anti-bourgeois aesthetic

  • Emilio Maciel Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto (UFOP)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37508/rcl.2020.n44a416
Keywords: lyric, cultural memory, democracy, anti-bourgeois aesthetics

Abstract

A reading of one the most intriguing poems of Cesario Verde, this essay analyses the way “Humilhações” tries to cope with the challenge imposed by the centrifugal and disruptive nature of modern experience, taking as a first frame of reference the “nouveau frisson” inaugurated by Baude­laire’s Fleurs du mal. At the same time, by discussing in deep the violent shift of tone and speed of the last two stanzas — when the narrator leaves the theater just to recognize himself in the middle of a public riot — one intends to show, on the one side, how, throughout the whole poem, a commitment to give face and voice to the new political actors goes hand in hand with a deep concern and respect for the opacity and open-ende­ness of this predicament, and, on the other, which are the formal strate­gies conceived in order to fulfill this bet.

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Author Biography

Emilio Maciel, Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto (UFOP)

É doutor em Literatura Comparada pela Universidade Fe­deral de Minas Gerais e professor de Teoria Literária no Departamento de Letras da Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto. Publicou textos sobre autores como Giacomo Leopardi, Silviano Santiago, Charles Baudelaire, Almeida Garrett, Bob Dylan, Clarice Lispector, entre outros. Participou recentemente da coletânea Literatura mineira: trezentos anos (BRAN­DÃO, Jacyntho Lins [org.]. Belo Horizonte: BDMG Cultural, 2020), com o ensaio “Os bens e o sangue: o romance em Minas, entre a mobilidade e o imobilismo”.

References

ALMEIDA, Guilherme de. Flores das “Flores do mal” de Baudelaire. São Paulo: Editora 34, 2010.

CRARY, Jonathan. Suspensions of perception. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2015.

HAMBURGER, Michael. A verdade da poesia. São Paulo: Cosac Naify, 2007.

OEHLER, Dolf. Quadros parisienses. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 1997.

SCHWARZ, Roberto. Um mestre na periferia do capitalismo. São Paulo: Duas Cidades, 1989.

SISCAR, Marcos. Poesia e crise. Campinas: Editora da Unicamp, 2010.

VERDE, Cesário. O livro de Cesário Verde. Porto Alegre: L&PM, 2008.

Capa da Convergência Lusíana 44
Published
2020-12-30
How to Cite
Maciel, E. (2020). Elitism for the people: Cesario Verde and the anti-bourgeois aesthetic. Converência Lusíada, 31(44), 141-165. https://doi.org/10.37508/rcl.2020.n44a416
Issue
Vol. 31 No. 44 (2020): Crossings: dialogues between Portuguese and Brazilian literature
Section
DOSSIER

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