THE INTERTEXTUALITY OF OPERA IN THE FICTION OF NELIDA PIÑON

This article examines how Nélida Piñon builds a feminist reader in the novel A força do destino (1978). This work highlights the role of the contemporary writer to read the classics from the post-modern and feminist places. Post-modern because it decentralizes the structural elements of the text, feminist because it opposes to any kind of women oppression. In this novel, the narrator reconstructs the trajectory of the characters Alvaro and Leonora, homonym protagonists of the opera by Giuseppe Verdi, based on her devotion by them, because of this, it becomes a passionate and original reporting. The narrative of Piñon is built from a parodist and irreverent place that updates the plot of Verdi. This is a metanarrative in which the narrator dialogues with her characters and reader. In this case, the reference to the opera by Verdi is, actually, the exploration of artistic and cultural archives in accordance with the interests of the narrator. Methodologically, this paper is guided by the exploitation of intertextuality present in this work and in gender studies to enhance the speaking place of the writer as a real part of contemporary feminist culture.

Symbols of Paraná in different kinds of cultural expressions

ABSTRACT: The “azure jay” and the “pine tree” are among the most acknowledged representative symbols from Parana State in Brazil. They have been referenced by many different kinds of artistic expressions, such as theater, poetry and music. Along the years the tales about these cultural images have inspired regional and nationally recognized poets, writers and composers. In this perspective, considering the importance of these local symbols, this paper aims to verify how distinct kinds of artistic production, such as literary and musical works, depict these acknowledged symbols. So, as corpus to this research we took three texts. The first one is the song Gralha azul (1968), composed by Inami Custódio Pinto, which is considered one of the most outstanding songs of the cultural repertoire from Parana State. The second one is the poem Araucária (1999), by Helena Kolody. The third one is A lenda do pinheiro e a gralha azul (1972), which is in the first publication about blue azure jay’s tales, the book A sombra dos pinheirais (1925), by Eurico Branco Ribeiro. We analyze some lexical units such as “azure jay”, “pine tree” and “pinion”, trying to describe their meanings conveyed by the selected artistic work. The theoretical basis that guides this work are the Lexicology and Lexicography studies (BIDERMAN, 2001a, 2001b, 2001c), discussing the existing relation between lexicon, society and culture.   KEYWORDS: Lexicon; Symbols of Parana; Culture of Parana.    

Classic and Historical Backlands in Elomar Figueira Mello

The literary-musical production of Elomar Figueira Mello is marked by the ubiquity of the theme of backland. The analysis of the letters of the songs from the album Na quadrada das águas perdidas, disc recorded by Elomar in 1978, allows us to distinguish, in such compositions, three meanings, or three “levels” of backland: a “classic” or “ideal” backland, which is based in Elomar’s conviction of the existence, in a indeterminate past, of an interior territory inhabited by people who guided his actions based on feelings of justice, dignity, honor, nobility and courage; a “historical-geographical hinterland”, that emerges from the references made by the composer to places and characters – singers, drovers, men of the hinterland – of the Sertão da Ressaca, southwest of Bahia region; and, at last, a “deep backland” or “internal backland”, the backland resulting of artistic creation, hinterland that is constructed by the specific aesthetic and poetic work of the composer. This paper seeks to address, in more detailed form, through examination of the letter of song Canto de guerreiro mongoió, the Elomar’s representations of historical and geographical hinterland where the composer is included as an individual and as an artist - the Sertão da Ressaca.