IDENTITIES AND STEREOTYPES IN “THE HEROIC CITY," BY MYRIAM CAMPELLO

Abstract

In order to think about the intersections between literature, history and identity, this article proposes a literary analysis of “The heroic city”, by Myriam Campello (2017). The Brazilian author’s short story intertwines history and fiction based on a metalinguistic and intertextual narrative: the narrator and an interlocutor discuss how the founding of the city of Rio de Janeiro by Estácio de Sá will be told. In this work, we consider how the plane of expression and the plane of content act in the construction of meaning effects of the text which, in turn, contributes to the redefinition of dominant narratives about the arrival of the Portuguese in Brazilian lands and promotes reflections on identity marks and stereotypes. It is also proposed to consider aesthetic and thematic trends in literature in Portuguese, specifically the Brazilian epic of the 19^th century, in contrast to contemporary literature. To this end, reference is made to Miguel Real (2012) and Antônio Cândido (2006), both literary thinkers from Portugal and Brazil, respectively, in order to enrich the Lusophone perspective from both perspectives. Campello’s tale, ironic and subversive, presents a reinvention of the canonical 16^th and 17^th century narratives and even the historical novels that followed them. Within the contemporary narrative, Campelli’s provocations suggest that the reader critically delve deeper into the historical events that intertwine Brazil and Portugal.