Evaristo’s talent as a novelist, poet, and critic belongs to a tradition of black women’s writing in Brazil that was established and continued by foremothers such as Rosa Maria Egipcíaca da Vera Cruz (1719-1778), probably the first black person to write a book in the Americas; Maria Firmina dos Reis (1822-1917), the first black woman to publish a novel in Latin America; and Carolina Maria de Jesus (1914-1977), one of the most successful Brazilian authors whose autobiography was translated into several languages. In addition to having earned her unprecedented recognition by national literary awards, including the most important one—Jabuti 2019—, Evaristo’s prose and poetry have also achieved an international reputation thanks to the interest of translators, scholars, and students of Brazil. Of special importance is the black feminist movement, whose agenda for black women’s specific condition manifested the intersectionality of gender inequalities with racial and socioeconomic disparities. The feminist theories of Lélia Gonzalez, Beatriz Nascimento, and Sueli Carneiro in the 1970s and 1980s preceded Evaristo’s consciousness of her individuality as a black woman subject in a talk in 1995.
Educated as a literary scholar who holds a master’s degree in Brazilian Literature and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature, Evaristo has produced novel concepts when expounding on her creative art. Nowhere is the complexity of her self-conceptions better illustrated than in escrevivência, a portmanteau word that denotes writing (escrever) along with lived experiences (vivência). Multiple dimensions to this conceptual framework have been considered by essays in various disciplines. In exploring the contours of that elusive concept, essayists attend to the sociopolitical issues embedded in Afro-Brazilian writing, mainly when it tackles race, class, and gender.
Our call for explorations of Evaristo’s impact on literary theory elicited thought-provoking responses that underscore her espousal of black women’s subjectivity as a basis for new theoretical principles. Reading and interpreting her writing to understand how she disrupts canonical concepts with self-representation, the session will enter the discourse on literary theory to discuss resilience, memory, experiences, and emotions. New modes of thought suggested by Evaristo’s discursive agency reflect the individual and collective traumas of slavery legacies and promote social healing.
To guarantee a fifteen-minute discussion period, we will allocate 12 minutes to each of the following presenters.
Maria Aparecida Salgueiro emphasizes that Evaristo brings an innovative discourse line to the literature of resistance and opens ways inside a new dialogical relation. In framing escrevivência as an approach and a method of research and production of knowledge, Salgueiro notes that Evaristo’s poetics highlights the current shadows and echoes of slavery. Evaristo’s corpus demands new and qualified texts that continue to value the repertoire in its new scope, become renewed sources of consultation, and open new research fronts in literary studies.
Cristina Pinto-Bailey examines Evaristo’s Becos da memória (2006) and a selection of her short stories as examples of life stories that bring together memory, autobiographical fiction, and testimonial literature. Informed by critical studies of memory and autobiography, the critic understands escrevivência as a type of writing that originated from the subject’s personal experiences. Pinto-Bailey reviews how Evaristo’s fiction both dialogues with and challenges the theoretical limits of autographical writing, as it gives voice to those normally silenced by racial and economic oppression.
Felipe Fanuel Rodrigues focuses on the practical application of escrevivência and how Lívia Natália advances Evaristo’s literary theory. By comparing Natália’s creative strategies and practical methods with Evaristo’s theoretical principles, Rodrigues appraises the conceptual framework that propels escrevivência into an invaluable source of reference. Central to the convergence of black women’s criticism is their intellectual response to rampant discriminatory practices. Natália’s interpretation of escrevivência evinces theoretical intertextuality that gives rise to an anti-racist manifesto pledging the artistic legitimacy of black lived experiences.
Finally, Kerry Helena Green investigates how Evaristo’s aesthetics delves into the decadent spaces of urban Brazil. Proposing that affect and emotions are relational, Green studies the characters’ condition and the negotiation of boundaries that occurs when they manifest feelings of disdain. The analysis underlines hatred, revulsion, and disgust as survival strategies, which allow the characters to recognize their position, and at the same time, to distance themselves from what they identify as abject.