Memory and Errantry Through the Metropolis On the Novel O Mendigo Que Sabia de Cor os Adágios de Erasmo de Rotterdam [The Beggar Who Knew by Heart the Adagia by Erasmus de Rotterdam], by Evandro Affonso Ferreira

Abstract

This paper will analyze the relations between the main character from the book O mendigo que sabia de cor os adágios de Erasmo de Rotterdam - by Evandro Affonso Ferreira – and the urban space. The character is a beggar who wanders through the city, guided only by the memories of his lover, who abandoned him in the past but now appears as a symbol of hope and salvation amidst misery. As the space revives such memories in the character, he also sets a particular point of view to the city, regarding the marginalized people who inhabit it. In this study, in a first moment, the objective is to analyze how memory works as a guide to the beggar in the urban space. Then, the focus is to establish relations between the character and the city, his wanderings and isolation in counterpoint to the others who are also part of it. Finally, this paper will reflect upon the way in which the main character sees himself and the others who are in the same position as him, marginalized. The works which will serve as theoretical support to this study include texts from Renato Cordeiro Gomes, Richard Sennett, Zigmunt Bauman, among others who are believed to help clarify the questions proposed.