Wandering lines in Márcio Souza’s A caligrafia de Deus

Abstract

This paper proposes and analysis of the short story “A caligrafia de Deus” [God’s writing”], by Márcio Souza, highlighting the trajectory of the protagonist as a reader of photonovels, as well as her belief in the popular saying that “God writes straight with crooked lines”. The work focuses on the character's reading experience and her relationship with orality, represented by that popular saying, and with the verbal-imagetic text of the photonovels. With emphasis on the sociocritical approach, the analysis considers structural, linguistic and thematic aspects of the Souzian tale, having as theoretical basis Agostinho (2002), Barthes (2004, 2008), Bosi (2017), Buarque (1972), Chartier (1999), Compagnon (2006), Eco (2006), Hardman (2005), Magnani (2001), Melo (2015), Miguel (2021), Perrone-Moisés (1998), Piglia (2017), Sá (2005), Sampaio (2008) and Santiago (2000). Thus, with irony and critical acidity, Márcio Souza denounces the marginalization and cultural erasure of native peoples in favor of an economic policy that continues the colonizing process.