Balún Canán and the Mayan Literature: intertextual dialogues

• Grant number: 12/12495-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: October 01, 2012
• End date: September 30, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Literature - Modern Foreign Literatures
• Principal Investigator: Maria de Fatima Alves de Oliveira Marcari
• Grantee: Larissa Athayde do Carmo
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências e Letras (FCL-ASSIS). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Assis. Assis , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This work intends to analyze intertextual relations between the novel Balún Canán (1957), by Mexican writer Rosario Castellanos, and Popol Vuh and Chilám Balám, sacred books of Mayan Civilization, using as theoretical support studies by French theoretician Geràrd Genette (1982) on hypertextuality/intertextuality. This dialogue occurs due the presence of linguistic and cultural elements within the novel that marked oral and written traditions of the Indians in Chiapas, Mexico. Interweaving opposite universes - Indians and white men; mystical and historical worlds, Rosario Castellano's novel shows a complex and deep conception of the world. Through this analysis and classification of intertextual relations, we intend to demonstrate that the narrative is permeated by two worldviews that are intertwined. (AU)