Oral tradition transformed in ironic textual resource in Dona Guidinha do Poço

Abstract

Calu, a character in Manoel de Oliveira Paiva's novel "Dona Guidinha do Poco", tells the "Story of Five a lot" to the protagonist, Margarida. The tale is a kind of moral fable about a revengeful ex-fiancee that disgraces a young woman by lying about her virtue and, as a consequence, is severely punished by God. To the novel's reader, the admonishment takes an ironic turn later, when Calu and her husband Silveira act as gobetweens for Margarida's adulterous affair with Secundino. Other marks of orality are found along the novel, such as the lyrics of some baiões (folk music) and efforts to register oral forms in the text. The contrast between the "written" register (formal, somewhat rigid and often full of second meanings) and the orality-based register (informal, rhythmicaly seductive and often praising positive values) is kept all along, but the plot, a story of betrayals and of self-interest, contaminates the positive aspects of oral tradition, somewhat changing its original moral meanings and allowing the reader to see them as pragmatical and cynical.