A paixão segundo Leminski: Pathos, Ruah & Wu Wei

Abstract

This thesis deals with the issue of religion in the work of Paulo Leminski, a poet from Curitiba widely know in Brazil, one of the main names of Brasilian counterculture in the seventies and a participant in the movement known as marginal poetry. The effort, however, is not limited to listing the religious references in the author's work, nor to defending theological ideas supported by his poetry. On the other hand, it makes theology, the religious studies and the theory of religion tools to approach aspects of his work that might otherwise be hidden. Thus presenting, in addition to what was directly proposed, a perspective of the analysis of a poetic work through the areas encompassed by the religious studies. From this, we question which are the central values that move Leminski's poetry, considering them the 'religion' of the work and an unconditioned vector to move all the conditioned. Thus, a framework was constructed in which 1) Religion was sought as the supreme value that moves all other poetic sayings, 2) The poetic texture was taken as a structure, which can be measured by the recurrence of themes and 3) And that this structure acts as a funnel, collecting all the senses to the same place, crack. We then argue that this place (religion) can be thematized from the word passion, which in its polysemy points to the central themes of Leminski's poetry. It is pointed out that his poetry is recurrently dealing with themes related to surrender, possession, non-government of oneself, and suffering the storms of life, etc. This is exalted in his poetry as the greatness of life itself, and he takes as a behavioral model that being that allows life to happen in him and does not sterilize himself, does not exchange comfort and well-being for life, for passion. This perspective is a qualitative proposal of the term life, which can be approached by the triad life/experience/passion. Furthermore, we cover important terms in the history of philosophy and religion whose meanings equalize the radical polysemy that Leminski gives to his treatment of passion, as a resource to point out the ways in which passion is brought to the center by his poetry. And also allow us to better understand their choices and appeals. Thus, starting with pathos, from the Greek root of the word passion, referring to Aristotle, as that of others that lives in us from rhetoric, from language; to the word ruah, the breath of life, the spirit of the Judeo-Christian tradition that composes in a very special way the symbol of the wind, very recurrent in his poetry, in an openly religious way; and the Daoist wu wei, the practice of acting without acting, of acting as an empty factor for life to act on the individual, thus revealing a religious argument in the poet's approaches to the themes of error and distraction.