Poetic dérive and cultural objection: from Parisian bohemia to Mário de Andrade

Abstract

After beginning with a general overview and establishing the connections between the reurbanization of the cities of Paris and São Paulo and the poetic experiments of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Mário de Andrade's poetry is then read in light of the tradition of the Parisian bohemian project initiated by Jarry. Picasso, and Apollinaire's derive. An experience of drifting that differs from Baudelairean flânerie, dérive stretches across the entire surface of the city and its outskirts and muddles the identity of its practitioners, while flânerie takes place in the restricted space of the Parisian arcades and boulevards, among a homogeneous public, and usually with a male protagonist. While flânerie is associated with a visual gesture, drifting comprises a fully existential gesture.