ONTOLOGICAL EXCESS AND METONYMY IN EARLY-MODERN DESCRIPTIONS OF BRAZIL: NARRATIVES OF THE IMPLAUSIBLE

Alessandro Zir

Resumo


This paper relies on and furthers a hypothesis advanced in previous research: that the well-known eccentricities to be found in the early-modern corpus of the Portuguese colonizers of Brazil — its references to entities like monsters and demons, its bizarre descriptions, and odd classification systems — can be explained in view of a certain style of thinking, addressing a specific ontological concern. Ontology emerges here as a structural differentiating factor between radically distinct kinds of approach to reality, and the notions of excess and metonymy helps us to characterize the specificity of a cognitive enterprise which, in its several manifestations, is rather literary-religious than scientific-empirical. Our perspective is critical and theoretical, grounded on both perennial and contemporary discussions such as renaissance Christian Neoplatonism and poststructuralist thinking. And it covers significantly visual culture, which helps us to present Brazilian colonial literature on a broad canvas.

Keywords: Brazilian colonial literature. Christian Neoplatonism. Poststructuralism. Ontology. Visual culture.

 


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DOI: 10.5935/1679-5520.20170011


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