The canon in transcendence: homoeroticism in Retrato de Rapaz, by Mário Claudio

• Grant number: 16/20236-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: February 01, 2017
• End date: December 31, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Literature - Other Vernacular Literatures
• Principal Investigator: Jorge Vicente Valentim
• Grantee: Renan Augusto Barili
• Host Institution: Centro de Educação e Ciências Humanas (CECH). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This research aims to analyze the novel Retrato de Rapaz, by the Portuguese writer Mário Cláudio, trying to observe the events and representations of homoerotic relations as a way to question and rethink a certain canon. Launched in 2014, the book is the second one belonging to a "trilogy of the affections" which addresses emotional relationships between people with different ages. The chosen text for this project contains the history of two characters: Leonardo da Vinci and Gian Giacomo Caprotti of Oreno, one of his disciples, nicknamed Salai by his protector. The homoeroticism in the novel speculates the interest of the Renaissance artist by the young apprentice, enabling a critical reflection on his image as canonical figure of thought and Western arts. From the questioning of their sexual performances as a way to insert an intellectual icon under the sign of homosexuality and at the same time, the erasure of an existing heteronormativity, the objective of this project problematize the discussion about the boundaries between fiction and biography and how these are articulated in the work, performing a revisitation of this canonical figure, inscribing him now under the sign of love that dares speak its name. (AU)