Dedication and Catastrophe on the Novel Macunaíma

Abstract

This paper states that the book Macunaíma, o herói sem nenhum caráter (“Macunaíma, a hero without a character” in a literal translation) can be understood as some kind of a dedication book directed to Brazil and to the brazilian people. The novel is a result of the passionate dedication devoted by the author Mário de Andrade to both the literary work and the “brasileirismo” (“Brazilianism”). The essay proposes, through the support of Barthes’ (1981) discusions on the amorous dedication and on the catastrophes theory, that the inscription of the coexisting cultural multiplicities in Brazil misaligns the modernist rhapsody, creating tensions of meaning, detours and unpredictable semantic rearrangements. However, in a melancholic epilogue, it turns out that the dedication book to the “Bazilianism” is actually and ultimately an epitaph, which is also guided by the catastrophic thiking, that stops the funereal closure of the narrative.