A idade do serrote: forgetting, slips of the tongue and mistakes

Abstract

The essay focuses on a reading of some fragments from A idade do serrote by Murilo Mendes, highlighting the question of the unconscious formations (dreams, forgetting, slips of the
tongue, mistakes etc), taking into consideration Freud’s thought and Lacan’s reading of Freud. The relations between literature and psychoanalysis – one can never insist enough – are governed by an analogical outlook and do not prevent other aspects of the textual construction from coming into view. One may mention, as an example, the dialogue established by Murilo Mendes with José de Alencar and Machado de Assis, opening up interpretative possibilities for Murilo’s book in the body of Brazilian literature.