The images that emerge from the power of writing: Suassuna's Auto - from the medieval to social criticism

Abstract

This paper aims at discussing the cultural approach between the contemporary and the medieval period defended by Ariano Suassuna. In his play Auto da Compadecida, ethics is focused as a means to moralize the society of Taperoá, Brazil, using the Christian eschatology. The characters in the play, thus, represent the deities that are typified according to the conception of the medieval documents and establish a central aspect of the discourse in his work: Manuel, Virgin Mary, the Encourado and his Devil. They show features of the scholastic triad of The Middle Ages, not only in their physical characterization but also in the psychological one. Hence, the cultural traits of the interior Northeast revealed by the coexistence between a traditional Catholicism and a local imagery are transposed into literature by Ariano Suassuna and analyzed here by the critical look of BENSANÇON (1997), CLASTRES (1990), NOGUEIRA (2002) and VASSALO (1993).