The performance of Cordisburgo’s storytellers and the presence of the storyteller as a character in Joao Guimaraes Rosa’s work

Abstract

This essay is divided in two parts, the first of wich, based on Paul Zumthor’s poetic communication theory, analyses six performance acts made by two groups of storytellers from the city of Cordisburgo, Minas Gerais, who present the work of the Brazilian writer, Joao Guimaraes Rosa, through public performances. The second part uses Zumthor’s notions to analyse the presence of the storyteller as a character in Rosa’s fiction, taking the examples of Joana Xaviel and Camilo, characters of Uma estória de amor; and Laudelim, character of O Recado do Morro, two tales from the book Corpo de Baile.