A Parte Maldita Brasileira

Literature has the task of guarding the remnants, the leftovers, the fragments, the debris, to compose an inexhaustible symbolic shelter where everything lost in human life fits, including what is thrown away, what is lacking, and even what does not exist. By gathering in this volume the essays that mark her remarkable trajectory of literary criticism, Eliane Robert Moraes is inspired by Georges Bataille’s conceptions of lack and excess to read Brazilian erotica from the end of the 19th century to our days. With her focus on authors as varied as Machado de Assis, Hilda Hilst, Nelson Rodrigues, Roberto Piva, or Reinaldo Moraes, the essayist invites us to explore less frequented zones of our “maldita [accursed]” part – and even unknown ones. From this path as original as it is rigorous comes a definitive contribution to the recognition of the place of eroticism in the Brazilian literary canon.

A Parte Maldita Brasileira, by Eliane Robert Moraes, is one of the first volumes in the “Ensaio Aberto” book collection, the result of a partnership between NOVA FCSH and PUC-Rio.

Ensaio Aberto Collection

In Western tradition, there was a certain assumption of separation between Philosophy and Literature, resulting in a historical understanding that divided, on one hand, the mind, reflection, or reason, and on the other hand, the body, creation, or emotion. Thus, the possibility of a knowledge that, instead of separating, brought Philosophy and Literature closer together was lost. One might ask: don’t writers philosophize, and don’t philosophers write? The essays in this collection emerged from the desire to explore how, despite the well-known metaphysical critique that Philosophy directed towards Literature, they never ceased to draw closer.