For an “anti-mónica” poetics: Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen and the representations of the female(s)

Abstract

This text aims to analyze the narrative “Retrato de Mónica” [Portrait of Mónica] — Contos exemplares — [Exemplary tales], by Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, in an attempt to understand a poetics that we will call “anti-Mónica”. It is worth remembering that, in “Retrato de Mónica” [Portrait of Mónica], the naming character of the title is closely linked to the “Príncipe deste Mundo” [Prince of this World] — a possible pseudonym for Nazi-fascist dictators. For Mónica, according to the narration, “é o seu maior apoio, o mais firme fundamento do seu poder.” (ANDRESEN, 2015, p.137) [is his greatest support, the firmest foundation of his power.]. In this sense, as Sophia’s work presents a continuum between the dimensions of aesthetics/ethics and justice/fairness, that is, the author does not refuse to give “testimony”, in the manner of Jorge de Sena, of her time, Mónica — as a crystallized representation of a certain feminine within Andresen’s production — is the negation of the values that the poet seeks to convey. In this path, as we will show, if Sophia’s work is organized around the denial of this type of representation of the feminine( s), other questions arise: a) which would be the feminine representative( s) (s) more coherent(s) with the Andresenian universe; b) which one(s) would make a counterpoint(s) to the character Mónica? Therefore, it will also be necessary to analyze poems such as “Catarina Eufémia” and “Maria Natália Teutónio Pereira”, for example. Such poems present female figures who, like Antigone, refuse/refuse the role of “female” and fight/fought in the name of freedom. That’s why they overcame destruction and transcended human immanence itself: they lifted their laughter in the wind — to paraphrase a verse by Sophia.