❖ A Stranger to Myself

In ‘Literatura e mulher’, her playful but contentious narrative on Cecília Meireles and Henriqueta Lisboa, the late Ana Cristina César questions the ease with which critics ascribe the ‘feminine’ to these poets and their lyrics. 2 Her task is not simple, since she cannot avoid contemporary comparisons to more ‘feminist’ poets such as Adélia Prado and herself, who seek bold ways of writing gender into their poetry. Cecília Meireles and Henriqueta Lisboa challenge César with their abundant aesthetic style. These poets repeat and incorporate symbols such as perfume, pearls, doves, and roses into their poetry. How then to read an alternative space of the self, of being a woman or feminine(ist), when Henriqueta Lisboa and Cecília Meireles seem only to resist their own referentiality and instead dwell on such delicate and evasive symbols? César observes with tongue in cheek that the small violent details are nowhere to be found: where is the dirtiness and domesticity in their lyrics? Why do they dwell in the realm of the ephemeral and the beautiful? ‘Arrisco mais: não haverá por trás dessa concepção fluídica de poesia um sintomático calar de temas de mulher, ou de uma possível poesia moderna de mulher, violenta, briguenta, cafona onipotente, sei lá?’[I would go even further: is it not the case that behind that fluid definition of poetry there exists a pervasive silence about themeswhich pertain to women, or the possibility of a modern women’s poetry which is violent, argumentative, overly tacky, who knows what else?] 3 César appears to be engaged particularly with Meireles. She counterposes quotes by critics, apocryphal conversations (such as those written by the imaginary Sylvia Riverrun), 4 and invents critical responses to explain Meireles’s poetry and style. These texts present Meireles as a staid and classic poet — almost too consistent in their poetic explanations; but at the same time, something more appears to be happening in these critical approaches. They force Ana Cristina César and the reader to imagine subversive elements lying behind Cecília Meireles’s poetry, such as her sexuality or a ‘dialética do conflito’ [dialectic in conflict] 5 with themes which may be transgressive, contradictory, or hidden. Perhaps what César wanted the reader to know was that Meireles’s poetry allows for alternative readings besides the usual classical interpretations. For César, Cecília Meireles is interesting for what slips by or ‘resvala’ in her lyrics. She spells trouble for any critic who wants to read the obvious and stated gendered position in her poetry. Meireles’s fluid and evasive symbols may give way to dangerous misreadings: Onde se lia flor, luar, delicadeza e fluidez, leia-se secura, rispidez, violência sem papas na língua. Sobe à cena a moça livre de maus costumes, a prostituta, a lésbica, a masturbação, a trepada, o orgasmo, o palavrão, o protesto, a marginalidade. [For flower, moonlight, fragility and fluidity, read desiccation, harshness, violence, and read it straight. Centre stage has now been taken by the licentious bad-mannered girl, the prostitute, the lesbian, masturbation, the doublecrosser, orgasm, dirty words, defiance, marginality.] 6