On October 24, starting at 6 PM, the MariAntonia Center of USP, in conjunction with the Tinta-da-China Brasil publisher, will launch the books A parte maldita brasileira: Literatura, excesso, erotismo by Eliane Robert Moraes and Não escrever [com Roland Barthes] by Paloma Vidal, both from the Open Essay Collection, with free admission.
Focusing on Brazilian literature from the late 19th century to the present day, Eliane Robert Moraes brings together in this volume the essays that mark her remarkable trajectory in literary criticism. Machado de Assis, Hilda Hilst, Nelson Rodrigues, Roberto Piva, and Reinaldo Moraes are some of the names the essayist dedicates her reflection to, inspired by Georges Bataille’s concepts of lack and excess.
From this path as original as it is rigorous, a definitive contribution emerges for recognizing the place of eroticism in the Brazilian literary canon.
Paloma Vidal, on the other hand, starts from Roland Barthes’ outline of the work Vita Nova, in an investigation between creation and reflection in the book Não escrever [com Roland Barthes].
Poetry interacts with theory to give life to this book, which brings together texts produced in the 2010s, either in diary format or in lecture-performance format. These lectures were presented at different universities and other institutions, and their registration in the book retains marks of this performative experience.
These books mark the beginning of the Open Essay Collection, under the coordination of Tatiana Salem Levy from the Nova University of Lisbon and Pedro Duarte (PUC-Rio), published by Tinta-da-China Brasil in São Paulo.
About Eliane Robert Moraes
Professor of Brazilian Literature at the University of São Paulo and a researcher at the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq). She has written numerous essays on erotic imagery in the arts and literature and translated Story of the Eye by Georges Bataille. Published by Iluminuras, her titles include Sade — A felicidade libertina (2015), O corpo impossível (2016), Lições de Sade (2011), and Perversos, amantes e outros trágicos (2013). She organized the Antologia da poesia erótica brasileira (Ateliê, 2015), edited in Portugal (Tinta‑da‑china, 2017), and two collections of Brazilian erotic short stories for Cepe: O corpo descoberto (2018) and O corpo desvelado (2022).
About Paloma Vidal
Writer, translator, teaches Literary Theory at the Federal University of São Paulo (Unifesp). She dedicates herself to fiction and criticism, having published novels, plays, short story collections, essays, and poetry, including: Algum lugar (7Letras, 2009), Mar azul (Rocco, 2012), Três peças (Dobra, 2014), Dupla exposição (Rocco, 2016), Wyoming e Menini (7Letras, 2018), Estar entre: Ensaios de literaturas em trânsito (Papéis Selvagens, 2019), Pré‑história (7Letras, 2020), and La banda oriental (Tenemos las Máquinas, 2021). Among other Latin American authors, she has translated Clarice Lispector, Adolfo Bioy Casares, Lina Meruane, Sylvia Molloy, Margo Glantz, Tamara Kamenszain, and Silviano Santiago.
Open Essay Collection
In Western tradition, there was a certain separation between Philosophy and Literature, resulting in a historical understanding that divided, on one hand, the mind, reflection, or reason, and, on the other hand, the body, creation, or emotion. This led to the loss of the possibility of knowledge that, instead of separating, would bring Philosophy and Literature closer, asking: don’t writers philosophize, and philosophers don’t write?
The Open Essays in this collection emerged from the desire to explore how, despite the well-known metaphysical criticism directed at Literature by Philosophy, they never ceased to approach, especially since Modernity. In this exploration, the essay form stands out for its ability to link different areas, such as politics and ethics, in a writing exercise that brings philosophy and literature together.
Service
Launch of the books A parte maldita brasileira: Literatura, excesso, erotismo, by Eliane Robert Moraes, and Não escrever [com Roland Barthes], by Paloma Vidal, both from the Open Essay Collection.
Where | MariAntonia Center of USP
Address | Rua Maria Antônia, 258, Vila Buarque – São Paulo – near the Higienópolis Metro station.
When | Tuesday, October 24, at 6 PM
Cost | Free