A presença de Dioniso na poesia brasileira contemporânea de Alexei Bueno

Abstract

This work aims to investigate how the mythical and poetic representations of Dionysus, from ancient times, resonate in the contemporary Portuguese language poetry, especially in the work of the Rio de Janeiro-based poet Alexei Bueno (1963-). Strange and paradoxical, god with many names, Dionysus’ power is widespread across many scopes. A deity apart from any simplistic definition, he causes horror, fascination and is considered one of the Ancient Greek entities most seductive from all times. Aiming to understand mainly the aspects related to the classic Dionysus, this research is based on primary sources analysis (the first testimonies), the Ancient poets works, as well as on the established hellenistic studies, such as Marcel Detienne (1988), Henri Jeanmaire (1970), Richard Seaford (2006), Cornelia Isler-Kerényi (2015) and Jean-Pierre Vernant (1990; 2000; 2006). Our goal is to understand how a contemporary poet makes use of this old tradition heritage and articulates new meanings to the mythical figure of Dionysus and its elements. For this purpose, the analytical-interpretative reading of Bueno’s poems related to the topic will be guided by the anachronism notion of a synchronic mediation of past and present, based on the contributions to this matter of the following authors: T. S. Eliot (1989), Hannah Arendt (2011), Giorgio Agamben (2009) and Hans Magnus Enzensberger (2003). As Dionysus is a Greek pantheon divinity, to investigate the relation between literature and the gods in Bueno’s poetic work is a significant part of this research. To observe the mythological shifts and variations expressed in Bueno’s lyric, some analysis categories will be articulated, like the sacredness, the Dionysiac, the drunkenness, the enthusiasm and the ecstasy. At last, it is highlighted that Bueno’s poetry, as it dialogues with old myths and divinities from the Hellenic culture, more than using these images as mere literary conventions, it makes use of them as a way to comment on the contemporary individual crisis.