Máquina de mo(v)er pátrias e brasílias: Catatau (1975) de Paulo Leminski

Abstract

Paulo Leminski's novel-idea Catatau (2012) is perhaps one of the most eccentric texts in our literature. The radical experimentalism of the language, the absence of narrative chains and, to a certain extent, its apparently illegible character were, over the decades, sometimes celebrated by the most avant-garde critics, sometimes pointed out as factors of resistance to more extensive readings. This essay, aware of the difficulties recognized since its publication in 1975, chooses to point out, at first, some relationships between the Cartesian logical-mathematical concepts and the de-craftmanship-cartesian [des-cartesanato] of Catatau, to then discuss its ethical-aesthetic implications. In addition to the philosophical discourse, we make references to the Information Theory of the second half of the 20th century. XX and the Cybernetic Theory, hoping to gather important intuitions from there to combine the experimental elements with the logical-mathematical aspects that make up the language of this peculiar work. We believe there is an ethical-aesthetic crossing in the perspective of a re-foundation of the archetypes of the nation, which will be analyzed in a third part of the essay.