Between conservation (of the self) and (its) dispersion: tensions and transcendence in Mário de Sá-Carneiro’s Céu em fogo, an example of the modern writing on the self

Abstract

In the work of Mário de Sá-Carneiro, I identify two types of tension that I think are recurring aspects which manifest themselves as central to his poetics. The first type would be formed by the movements of rising and falling; the second presents the opposition between conservation and dispersion. Focusing on two texts of Céu em fogo, both marked by the fictional play with diary writing, I will try to highlight the second tension, noticing something of its nuances and thinking, particularly, about its relationship with the idea of transcendence, which, illuminating a certain transition to otherness, would prove to be a fundamental element of how the author thinks and writes about the subjective experience itself.