Kadosh and the Sacrality of Hilda Hilst

Author(s)

Alan Silvio Ribeiro Carneiro

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: Campinas, SP.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem
• Defense date: 2009-08-25

Examining board members

Suzi Frankl Sperber; Eliane Robert de Moraes; Miriam Gárate

• Advisor: Suzi Frankl Sperber

Abstract

Hilda Hilst (1930-2004) published some books of poetry in the 1950's and 1960's and wrote some drama from 1967 to 1970. The appearance of her first book in prose, in 1970, is an important moment in the building of her literary project, when the limits between her personal life and her literary work get closer. The research os this dissertation intends to contribute to the understanding of this context, with an interpretation of the short story Kadosh, published in 1973, in the book with the same name, with a focus in the question of sacrality. The methodology began with the reading of this story and all the published books of Hilda Hilst, after this it was done a research in the archives, working with photos, letters, booknotes and the originals, looking for the signs of the appearance of this question in the work of the writer. The main attention was directed to the period between the end of the 1960's and the begining of the 1970's, more related to the context of Kadosh. The results of all this research are the four related essays, which are presented here: the first one analyses the appearance of the sacrality as a literary question for Hilda Hilst, working with some letters, which have as theme the problem of the writer's work, showing up Hilst's image of her own, in the 1950's and 1960's; the second essay choose some excerpts of Hilst's published books, of her originals and of some articles published in the print about Kadosh, showing up Hilst's public image, in 1973-74; the third one began with an analysis of the religious references, which can be seen in the signs of the archive to produce an interpretation of Kadosh; by the end, the last one is an analisys of the writing of the author in the short story, which produces a contradiction with the religious representations of Kadosh and constitutes the special approach of Hilst to sacrality. As another result of this research, it was organized a commented edition of the short story Kadosh, which indicates part of the references alluded by the text. The conclusion of this work show up how in the work with the archives, the relation between life and literary work as one whole directs the way of interpretation and build a place of contradictions, which plays a role in making the criticism a challenge. (AU)