Love can´t be dissident: on the homoerotic poetry of Matheus Guménin Barreto

Abstract

In this article, I propose a reading of the poem “discover the words I love you” by the poet Matheus Guménin Barreto, whose work has been presented with vigor in the scene of contemporary Brazilian poetry. The poem specifically thematizes the homoerotic relationship between two men who love each other and enunciate this love. The poetic strength of the text is in the enunciative scene and in its unfolding. From a dialogue between aspects of psychoanalytic theory and literary theory, the analysis of the poem is performed, discussing the ethical, political and social (des)limits of love to re-use the term dissident, since it only fits in a social and cultural context in which homoeroticism is considered outside the norm. Therefore, overcoming the political reasons for the use of the term dissident, I propose that freedom and the guarantee of individual rights will only be established when no love is considered dissident.