Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Date of Degree
10-2014
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Program
Hispanic & Luso-Brazilian Literatures & Languages
Advisor
Araceli Tinajero
Subject Categories
English Language and Literature | Religion
Keywords
Chemical wedding, Jagunco, Kabbalah, Mythology, Sacred Feminine, Tarot
Abstract
Two drawings accompanied the novel Grande Sertão: veredas by João Guimarães Rosa in its second edition (1958). Not much attention has been given to them. In fact, their corners and ends have, in many editions, suffered "amputations." So many are the published editions that have simply discarded them. In my dissertation, I sustain that these "maps" are part of the text of the novel. They are the "Roteiro de Deus," Man's Path of Return to the "Paradisical Garden." I propose an esoteric reading of them along with an esoteric reading of the novel itself. Rosa's novel is an alchemical furnace, in which the alchemist, by submitting language to decomposition and distillation, is intently creating his "Opus Alchymicum." The final product, the "philosopher's Stone," is a perfect chemical marriage between words and images. What the novel hides, the maps show. There is no "happy ending" in the text because the "Creator" hides it in the "maps."
Recommended Citation
Galvao, Jizelda, "Upon the Plains of the Soul .'. The Liberating Logos of Joao Guimaraes Rosa in "Grande Sertao: veredas"" (2014). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/350
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