Of collective mitification: the view of hell in the popular literary imaginary

Abstract

Much has been said and researched about the importance of memory for the critical study of literature. From individual, autobiographical memory to the consolidations of phenomena proposed by collective memory, such as a myth, which passes from generation to generation, receiving updates. This work aims to make a comparative study between two works of different genres: the tale The Hell of Graciliano Ramos and the string The arrival of Lampião in the hell of José Pacheco. The purpose is to analyze how the narrator and the lyric, respectively, construct the image of the space of hell. With one of the main strands being the popular imagination and, more specifically, the Christian imagination. Starting from the premise of individual memory traced in Graciliano's tale and arriving at the collective considerations transmitted and perpetuated by the cordelistas. From the perspective of theorists such as Maurice Halbwachs, who contributes in an elucidating way with the advent of collective memory; Luis Alberto Brandão, who focuses on the expansion of the literary space; With the contributions of Carlos Alberto Nogueira and João Libânio, who make a historical investigation about the Christian imagination, we intend to understand that the imagination is constructed, propagated and re (invented) taking into account the cultural and moral aspects of a given social group, as well as persistence of some myths to this day. To this end, we still rely on Antonio Candido's theory of literature and society.