Intercultural dialogues and epic narrative in Brazilian romance Gupeva, from Maria Firmina dos Reis

Abstract

The present work aims to present an investigation about the Gupeva Indian tale (1861-2), by the Maranese writer Maria Firmina dos Reis (1825-1917), focusing on the image of the Indian engendered by the author. As a romantic writer of her time, Maria Firmina, in the tale under analysis, designed an idea of nation through the approach of the indigenous theme. Thus, the encounter of European culture with indigenous culture will arise as a point of analysis, in order to record the author's contribution to the Brazilian social thought of the period and to mark his ideas about the national question. The author's literature gains relevance by proposing to problematize the reality in which it is inserted, giving prominence to Gupeva, who is one of the characters in the text of Santa Rita Durao (Caramuru). In order to justify this work, authors such as Candido (2007), Mendes (2006) and Morais Filho (1975) will be used in order to understand how the author attempts to construct an epic that illustrates the formation of our nation. Gupeva presents a narrative that highlights elements of Romanticism as the refuge in the past, and the reinvention of the good savage, focusing his attention on the dialogue between cultures.