Serpente em espiral (o movimento do erotismo em Avalovara)

Abstract

This dissertation focuses on the reading and interpretation of Osman Lins’ novel Avalovara based on a universal literary theme – human love -, following the clues left by the author in interviews and analyzing especially its poetic configuration in the narrative. Taking into consideration the intense sexual component of the novel, it studies the various aspects of carnal love, from the political use of the body to its cosmogony and its mythical aspect. In order to do so, it first defines erotic literature to then position Avalovara in the twentieth century occidental tradition. Afterwards, it indicates its sources, which go back to the Bible and the Hindu tradition of the tantra. In uniting them, Lins creates a carnal and concrete love, capable of taking the lovers back to the original unity. In incorporating the symbolic geometry of tantra in the novel’s structure, Lins gives literature a magical power until then only seen in religious and mystical texts. Moreover, this dissertation, also based in narrative and novel theories and in a comparative approach, has above all a critical perspective: to show Avalovara’s uniqueness in the tradition of erotic literature and its role in Brazilian literature, during the military dictatorship. Key-words: Osman Lins, Avalovara, novel, erotism, erotic literature, mythology, contemporary literature, symbols, narrative technique, military dictatorship, Brazilian literature.