A caminho do Horto: a poética do espaço na obra de Auta de Souza (1893-1901)

Abstract

The objective of this work is to study the spaces present in the life and work of poetess Auta de Souza, more precisely the poetic construction of these spaces. We organize these spaces into two categories: interior and exterior spaces. For this, we take as a basis the concept of space presented by the historian Michel de Certeau, building a dialogue with the reflections of the philosopher Gaston Bachelard. Thus, through the conception of an interior space, we seek to think Auta de Souza's work as a self-writing, in which the poetess narrates her life, her relationships with family and friends, her feelings, her pains and nostalgia. On the other hand, based on the notion of exterior space, we sought to research the displacements made by Auta de Souza due to her illness - tuberculosis -, as well as the places and stories of other people recorded by the poetess in her verses. Finally, we seek to think Auta de Souza as a nineteenth-century black intellectual from Rio Grande do Norte, based on the discussion of the spaces conquered by the poetess in the midst of an intellectual universe dominated by white men. We use as a privileged source her only book of poems, Horto, as well as some other biographical and academic works that present the poetess as an object of study.