Affective encounters in a cathedral
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5433/1678-2054.2016v31p8Keywords:
Contemporary narrative, Affect, Otherness, “Cathedral”Abstract
Based on discussions about aesthetics and politics and the power of literature, we propose the analysis of Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral”, focusing on the articulation between otherness and affect. Four specific authors back up the discussion: Mario Vargas Llosa and his texts about literature and life; Tzvetan Todorov and his reflections on the power of literature; Jacques Rancière and his notion of sharing the sensible; and Susan Sontag’s contributions on the function of art. Our aim is to value the place of affect in the gradually constructed process of encounter between the blind man and the narrator, which illustrates a process of becoming another through the potential of affecting and being affected. We will also pay special attention to the metaphor of the cathedral and its relationship with the narrative’s meanings on broader terms. We argue that the effect resulting from the affective encounter in the diegetic universe powerfully resonates in the reader, thus paradigmatically illustrating one of the ways literature can reveal its power.Downloads
References
CARVER, Raymond. 68 contos de Raymond Carver. Tradução de Rubens Figueiredo. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2010.
GREGG, Melissa e Gregory J. Seigworth, (eds). The affect theory reader. Durham: Duke University Press, 2010.
HIGHMORE, Ben. Bitter after taste: affect, food, and social asthetics. In: GREGG e SEIGWORTH, (eds). p. 118-137.
LLOSA, Mario Vargas. A verdade das mentiras. Tradução de Cordelia Magalhães. São Paulo: Arx, 2004.
RANCIÈRE, Jacques. A partilha do sensível. Estética e política. Tradução de Mônica Costa Netto. São Paulo: Exo/Editora 34, 2005.
SONTAG, Susan. A vontade radical. Estilos. Tradução de João Roberto Martins Filho. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2015.
TODOROV, Tzvetan. O que pode a literatura? A literatura em perigo. Tradução Caio Meira. Rio de Janeiro: Difel, 2009, p. 73-82.
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