Animism and temptation in the short story Umas formas, by Guimarães Rosa

Abstract

In the tale Umas formas, from the book Tutameia terceiras estórias published in 1967, the poetics of animism is unveiled. Tombstones with epitaphs in the cemetery next to the church form the scene with a priest, a sexton and a freemason, a ghost and a monster, all involved in unusual episodes of apparition, temptation and fear. It is by the theory of the soul, mentioned before by the author himself João Guimarães Rosa, that a possible reading of the enigmas proposed in the Rosian tale of not only religious theme is given. Animism is considered in this paper as a theoreticalconceptual literary apparatus, but also as an anthropological and philosophical concept. In this investigation, the philosopher Augustine of Hippo is mentioned, with his theological concepts on temptation; the scholar of religions Graham Harvey, proponent of the "new animism"; the anthropologists Philippe Descola and Eduardo Viveiros de Castro, with perspectivism and multinaturalism, philosopher and researches who provide an interpretative basis that meet the rosian enigmas.