Lesbian love and silence in Mar Becker’s poetry

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1590/2316-40187010

Keywords:

lesbian protagonism; contemporary Brazilian literature; Mar Becker

Abstract

This paper proposes an investigation of two poems that make up the section “Lesbos”, from the work A mulher submersa (2020), by Mar Becker. From an analysis of the expression plane, content plane and their intersections, the effects of meaning of these texts are observed, to reflect on lesbian protagonism in contemporary Brazilian literature of female authorship. To bring the lesbian love to the center of literary studies, this study aimed to value productions that focus on the role of lesbian women in Brazilian literature and a representation free of censorship, taboos or stereotypes. The re-signification of silence, in particular, is emphasized: even though, historically, women have loved each other in silence due to social coercion, Becker works this silence as one that is only possible in the comfort between two equals who recognize each other; as a love that does not need status, jurisdiction or the support of the dominant discourse to legitimize it; that survives even if they try to push it to the footnotes of history; that can be understood without the need for explanations. According to the author (Becker, 2020, translated by the author), “the love of a man/for a woman depends on so many words/but a woman loves another in silence”.

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References

BECKER, Mar (2020). A mulher submersa. Bragança Paulista: Urutau.

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» https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.1984-1124.v0i20p3-19

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» https://periodicos.ufrn.br/bagoas/article/view/2309

SILVA, Fabio Mario da; VILELA, Ana Luísa (2011). Homo(lesbo)erotismo e literatura, no Ocidente e em Portugal: Safo e Judith Teixeira. Navegações, v. 4, n. 1, p. 69-76. Disponível em: https://revistaseletronicas.pucrs.br/index.php/iberoamericana/N%C3%83%C6%92O%20https:/www.scimagojr.com/index.php/navegacoes/article/view/9442 Acesso em: 25 nov. 2022.

» https://revistaseletronicas.pucrs.br/index.php/iberoamericana/N%C3%83%C6%92O%20https:/www.scimagojr.com/index.php/navegacoes/article/view/9442

Published

2023-09-21

How to Cite

Fernandes, S. F. e. (2023). Lesbian love and silence in Mar Becker’s poetry. Estudos De Literatura Brasileira Contemporânea, (70), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1590/2316-40187010