Evento, historicidade e mito em Macunaíma (1928) de Mario de Andrade

Abstract

In this essay, I aim to delve into the relationship between representation, historicity, and myth in the avant-garde modernism of the early 20th century, particularly in Mario de Andrade’s Macunaíma (1928). Drawing upon White’s reflections on the modernist event and Jameson’s insights into the irrealization of the event, I explore the underlying reasons for the division between modernist art and historiography. I suggest that beyond a difference rooted in two incompatible systems of representation—a mimetic-realistic one and its modernist alternative—the critique of historical vanguards towards historiography stems from different fundamental notions of historicity and temporality. Furthermore, I argue that the modernist interest in myth and the development of a mythical method is grounded in how myth articulates historicity and temporality. Lastly, I analyze Mario de Andrade’s work in two steps: firstly, I follow Gilda de Melo e Souza and Cavalcanti Proença in attempting to describe the mythical method Mario de Andrade employs to compose his rhapsody and lend it its structural originality; secondly, I demonstrate how myth, particularly a mythical time and space, are interwoven in Andrade’s narrative, and thus, how Macunaíma can be understood as an alternative (to modern historiography) way of articulating historicity and time.