De Florbela às Florbelas: do mito literário à invenção de uma personagem-escritora

Abstract

This study intends to investigate how Florbela Espanca, after her death, has gradually become regarded as a literary myth, since the 1930s, through an extensive biographical appropriation which had been started by Guido Battelli to divulge and publish her literary work and, therefore, make profit. It aims to understand the process of mythification of the author, which has been dynamic and, every so often, has acquired new and unexpected outlines. Didactically, this process can be divided into two distinct and complementary moments: the first critical-biographical moment, from 1930 to 1979, when the Florbelian myth was established and consolidated; and the second critical-fictional moment, from 1979 to the present day, in which the myth, since Florbela has become a literary character, has expanded and gained new possibilities of representation. The study proposes to analyze the following thematic pieces, Bela-Calígula: Impromptu Teatral (1987), by Augusto Sobral; Florbela Espanca (1988), by Alcides Nogueira; Florbela (1991), by Hélia Correia; A primeira morte de Florbela Espanca (1999), by António Cândido Franco; and Florbela Espanca – a hora que passa (2014), by Lorenna Mesquita and Fabio Brandi Torres. In addition, the analysis focuses on the biographical novel, Florbela Espanca, a vida e a obra (1979) as well as in the set of poems entitled De Florbela para Pessoa. Com amor (2017), by Maria Lúcia Dal Farra. In conclusion, the results confirm that the Florbelian myth has intricacies that permeate the genesis of mythification on its development, consolidation and expansion, all this in a continuous process that does not show signs of ending, either in critical activity or in its aesthetic representations.