Manoel de Barros: Rebelious Love in Face of Tradition

Abstract

In “Poemas Concebidos sem Pecados” (1937), Manoel de Barros refl ects the pugnacious period of Brazilian Modernism, casting criticism on Parnassians and dreamers, constructing prosaic poems, with metaphoric complexity and an unusual linguistic cosmos, with contradictory images whose surrealism lies on a referential and linguistic base that aspires to normality. In “Memórias inventadas: A infância” (2003) and “Memórias inventadas: A segunda infância” (2006), the poet returns to the theme of childhood, in poetic prose, remaking as imaginary the narrative that common sense defi nes as objectively historical facts. Both in the fi rst work and in the current volumes, Manoel de Barros faces the literary canon and the plastic arts with a rebelious attitude typical of those who love aesthetic past. Based on this past, the literary tradition itself is re-created, in a revolutionary way.