Guiding trees in “São Marcos,” by Guimarães Rosa, and The Loneliest Tree in the World, by Mariana Carrara

Abstract

This article revisits Guimarães Rosa’s short story “São Marcos,” first published in 1946 in Sagarana, focusing on the central role of nature in the narrative, especially the guiding function of trees, which lead the protagonist out of a blindness that is both physical and symbolic. From a contemporary critical perspective, the study draws on Bachelardian phenomenology and literary ecocriticism – a field consolidated in the late twentieth century that examines the relationship between literature and the environment and challenges anthropocentric interpretation. Within this theoretical framework, the paper establishes a comparative dialogue with the recent work A árvore mais sozinha do mundo (2024), by Mariana Salomão Carrara, whose narrative presents vegetation as both guide and narrative voice. The article argues that, despite their different historical contexts, both works develop a vegetal poetics that shifts nature from a mere setting to an agent of experience and meaning, enabling a renewed reading of the relations between subject, language, and the more-than-human world.