Escrevivência and its ethical commitment to Macabéa’s voice

Abstract

The article proposes an analysis of Macabéa, flor de Mulungu, a short story by Conceição Evaristo, which is read through the lens of Escrevivência, having as its guiding principle the aesthetic arrangement that substantiates this concept. Thus, the protagonist of The Hour of the Star, a canonical character of modern Brazilian literature, is revisited with the aim of analyzing how Conceição Evaristo’s narrative, through a tensioned rereading of the canon, confers voice and subjectivity upon Clarice Lispector’s character. Given the focus on the ethical commitment of Macabéa, flor de Mulungu to give voice to Macabéa as a figure of subalternity, and on the aesthetic strategies that make this possible or not, the analysis is guided by the following questions: Is authorship important? What about narrative perspective? Do these two dimensions influence the construction of Macabéa? How can Escrevivência make a story that does not exist come into being? In addition, in parallel, the article attempts to “deconfuse” the concept of Escrevivência through the analysis of the short story itself.