Hybrid ideologies in poets from Minas Gerais in the 18th century

Abstract

The work of the so-called “poetas inconfidentes” of Minas Gerais, Cláudio Manuel da Costa, Tomás Antônio Gonzaga and Inácio José de Alvarenga Peixoto, when examined in the light of historical documents and textual sources, can offer suggestive possibilities of reading and understanding of their aesthetic and ideological development. The weight of State censorship of their time, restricting free expression of the spirit, and the conditions to which these poets were subjected when arrested and tried, are clear indications that much of their manuscripts was lost, which has hindered full access to their ideas. The recent gathering of the extensive, unpublished and sparse work of Cláudio Manuel da Costa, and the discovery of textual sources of part of his production allow a greater proximity with the genesis of his work and contribute to a better assessment of the author and his period. Bearing in mind the meanings of aesthetic and ideological marks registered on the author’s manuscripts, some aspects of the literary work of Cláudio Manuel da Costa are privileged in the present study.