Erico Verissimo através do espelho

Abstract

The thesis on the following pages explores the connections and points of interaction between two fields of study that are not always placed side by side: literature and international relations. To this end, methodological assumptions from comparative literature and literary historiography are used, which culminate in a work that deals with historical, geographical, metaphorical and poetic aspects of travel literature. As an example but also as main object of analysis, the thesis has as its literary corpora the travel books by the gaucho Erico Verissimo (Gato preto em campo de neve, 1941; A volta do gato preto, 1946; México, 1957). The thesis is organized as follows: a first chapter that is concerned with instructing the reader on the historiography of travel literature, from its beginnings to the present day and that provides vocabulary and structure for understanding the following chapters; the second chapter of the thesis brings together the areas of literature and international relations while discussing archetypes of travelers and establishing Erico Verissimo's place among pirates, corsairs and explorers of the Old World; the third chapter is the part that closes the thesis and is subdivided into several analytical categories that are concerned with exploring Erico Verissimo's traveling writing in different literary aspects.