The Motif of Freedom as a Reflection of the National Identity of Brazil through the Prism Romantic Era Poetry

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the process of the formation of Brazilian national identity through the prism of poetry as one of the most important elements of the nation's identity and maturity. The relevance of this topic is connected not only with the growing interest of Russian humanitarian science in the ‘Other West’, but also with application to the task of successful interaction with representatives of a particular culture requiring familiarity with the meanings that determine their self-identification. It is necessary to have a holistic understanding of the process of national identity formation and social factors behind its transformation. The characteristic features of the rich culture of the Luso-Brazilian world nevertheless suggest a high degree of differentiation in the identity of the people of Portugal and its former colonies. The aim of the study is to analyze how the motif of freedom manifests itself in the works of Brazilian Romantic poets, reflecting the gradual conceptualization of Brazilian national and cultural identity. To achieve this goal, the following objectives were set: first, to systematize the existing works on the national identity of Brazilians; second, to identify the motif of freedom in specific poems by prominent poets of the studied era and trace how this motif reveals identity of a Brazilian. The materials of the study are the corpus of works by Brazilian Romantic poets, comprising both the original works and their translations into Russian (including translations made by the author of this article). The leading research method was culturalhistorical; the corpus study was conducted by means of content analysis. The novelty of the study was determined by the fact of addressing the motif of freedom, considered as a key factor of Brazilian identity. As a result, it is shown how this motif was formed in the work of Brazilian Romantic poets of the 19th century, branching out into many conceptualizations of freedom. The study of the corpus of Brazilian poetic texts provides convincing evidence that the motif of freedom was one of the first steps for Brazilian society to realize its unique identity. The author concludes that the beginning of this process in the 19th century is associated with such vectors of comprehension of freedom as the desire of Brazilians to return to their homeland from foreign lands, escape from reality/life, freedom in the choice of Christian religion and freedom from sin, the desire to show strength, awareness of the important role of indigenous peoples and praise of the Indian struggle against oppression and despotism, resistance to slavery and colonizers. Gradually, however, the ontology of freedom from is complemented by an ontology of freedom for: Brazilian poets find imaginative solutions that reveal the identity of their people as a cultural search for a counterpart of communication.

Keywords

• identity
• brazil
• poetry
• romanticism
• freedom