Mediated by the singing of the musa and the siren: the poetic crossing of Ariano Suassuna

Abstract

This article aims to allocate the Suassunian song as an artistic production mediated by the muse’s song and the siren’s song, starting from a (re)reading of these two voices. In Ariano Suassuna’s poetic/literary work, the mythical construction of the northeastern backlands and the dialogue proposed by the author between high and popular arts are clear. Based on this unique way of literary production, we seek to understand this poetic song in three poems that make up the CD entitled A poetry alive by Ariano Suassuna. Therefore, this study will be based on some theorists who discuss the role of muses and mermaids in the contemporary world, such as Maurice Blanchot (2005), Jacyntho Brandão (2000) and Adriana Cavarero (2011), enabling a theoretical approach to these beings today; Eduardo Sterzi (2012) and Eric Havelock (1996) to think about the place of the muse’s voice in the contemporary poem; Hildebrando Barbosa (2018), Ester Simões (2016) and Silviano Santiago (2007) to understand the poetry of Suassuna. In this way, Suassuna’s poems are analyzed within this new perspective attributed to the muses and mermaids.