The repeatability of a discourse genre and the repeatability of history: centralization and universalization

Abstract

In this paper, I assume the repeatability of discourse genres to establish a parallel between two emblematic letters in the history of Brazil’s literary (and documental) production: the Letter to the Icamiabas (a chapter in Mario de Andrade’s novel Macunaima) and the Letter of Pero Vaz de Caminha. The repeatability of genres is also home to the repeatability of history and this is the reading that, in this work, guides the exploration of the immanence of historical data in linguistic data. Both letters present a displacement in space, a journey. I conclude that: (a) in the case of Letter of Caminha, there is the centralization of power by a state and a sovereign, linguistically present in the search for accuracy in the descriptions and calculations of power, as universalizable elements; (b) in the case of the Letter to the Icamiabas, the centralization of power is pure chimera and the universalization is nothing more than containment, despite the hyperbolic announcement – outside any pretension of accuracy – of a power that is spinning in a false direction; (c) the closeness between the two letters, marked by the request for help, places the legendary aspect of the mythical hero in the order of the historical character, at the same time as allowing me to observe the historical being embodied in the official scribe of the armada in his legendary aspect.