DIALOGUES BETWEEN HISTORY AND LITERATURE IN THE WORK GUERRA NO CORAÇÃO DO CERRADO, BY MARIA JOSÉ SILVEIRA

Abstract

The article aims to discuss the relationship between history and literature in the novel Guerra no coração do cerrado, by the Brazilian writer Maria José Silveira. For this, the article is based on the following theoretical references, the philosopher Paul Ricoeur and the critic Hugo Achugar. It is argued that, by putting into dialogue the discourses of the past, brings out speeches that are unfinished, because they are contemporary to the reader and proposes a reflection on the question of indigenous territory in Brazil. In addition to suggesting the contemporary discussion of these themes, the narrative, in what concerns the relation between history and fiction, blurs the frontiers between the historical and the literary, offering its version of the indigenous leadership Damiana. In this sense, the article argues that the contemporary historical novel is written in the behalf of the present, being a way to restructure the past in function of the needs of the present, allowing us to understand that the past is not settled, but it can be constantly reconstructed. As a consequence, the discourses which we use to interpret history, as well as the identities and roles played by diverse groups can be also reconstructed.