The world-machine as epistemological metaphor: a study of Haroldo de Campos's book A Máquina do Mundo Repensada , and its relations with Dante

• Grant number: 12/00627-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: March 01, 2013
• End date: March 31, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Literature - Comparative Literature
• Principal Investigator: Paulo César Andrade da Silva
• Grantee: Fernando José Germano Esteves
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências e Letras (FCL-ASSIS). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Assis. Assis , SP, Brazil

Abstract

By moving, partially, their references from the usual concretist Paideuma, except for the Mallarme's presence, to a far-off epic tradition, Haroldo de Campos's poem A Máquina do Mundo Repensada veers the focus from based points of contemporary literary production and poses specific issues without, however, cease to be "the place where the contemporaneity is presented in her utmost potency of problematization" (Siscar, 2006, p.168). Concerning A Máquina do Mundo Repensada, those specific issues are about the incorporation of different spheres of knowledge little akin, in a first sight, to contemporary literary works, such as Physics, Cosmology, the hebrew Kabbalah, and Philosophy of Science. This work is based on the idea that the topos of 'world-machine' function as an 'epistemological metaphor', which brings together (and updates) the key figures of knowledge's epic tradition. Among them, we had picked out, as a counterpoint for a comparative study, Dante and his major work, the Divina Commedia, and Mallarmé's Un Coup de Dés. Built on the hypothesis that the dynamics that drive such intellectual epic tradition are due to the interaction between Science and wider cultural contexts, this work intends to show, first, the participation of Dante and Mallarmé in their respective intellectual contexts and, secondly, point out and analyze the possible convergences between Campos's work , Dante's and Mallarme's. We intend too, thereby, to stand out the role of Haroldo de Campos as 'poet-thinker' and assess his contribution to the dialogue between humanistic culture and Science and settle his place on the knowledge's epic tradition.(AU)