Hermes Fontes’s collection of private correspondences: considerations and editing proposal

Abstract

Hermes Fontes was born in Boquim (SE) in 1888, and he was considered one of the most important Brazilian poets of his generation since the publication of his first work - Apoteoses (1908). In his private collection, which is safeguarded at Museu Raimundo Fernandes da Fonseca, a museum that is placed in his hometown, there is a significant set of correspondences that were sent to relatives and friends, which has already been object of research. Revisiting his epistolary material, taking into consideration the material conditions of its production and its safeguarding process, circulation and access to its writings, besides the content of the texts, it is possible to proceed to internal and external criticism of the documents and also to launch questions that will contribute to the so-called genetic criticism, which aims to interpret and systematize successive construction stages of a work, thus restating the importance of the work of Hermes Fontes and its place in Brazilian literature. In this way, based on the theoretical and methodological assumptions of Philology, this work aims to present considerations upon Hermes Fontes’ epistolary collection and also to propose a line-by-line semidiplomatic edition of a set of 44 handwritten letters produced by the poet between 1903 and 1930.