Itapuã: An Emotion and a Memory

Abstract

This article is about the literary work of Bahian writer Carlos Ribeiro and aims to analyze how his portrayals of urban space are capable of engendering the readings of memories, both subjective and collective. Therefore, this article analyzes the image of Itapuã neighborhood, an area of Salvador city that is frequently featured in Ribeiro’s works. The portrayal of this old neighborhood, as it appears in his narratives, retrieves memories which recollect the neighborhood formation and the changes it has undergone through time. Thus, the analysis presents the neighborhood as a writing of memories that nestle the bucolic aspect of the scenery of a time, its cultural manifestations, social practices, prominent figures as well as the modernization processes that have altered this old Edenic space.