Leitura e Alegoria em Fausto de Fernando Pessoa

Abstract

This dissertation aims at understanding how the idea of allegory, conceived by Walter Benjamin and further developed by Paul de Man, can shed some light to certain aspects of the dramatic poem Fausto by the Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa. Pessoa regarded his Fausto as being comprised by the struggle between Intelligence and Life, in which Intelligence would always be defeated. Therefore, this present study tries to understand the defeat of Intelligence in terms of the allegoric features presented in the afore-mentioned poem. To do so, certain connections established both by Benjamin and by Paul de Man will be taken as our starting point. What we have in mind, in this point, is the connection perceived by Walter Benjamin between allegory and progression and Paul de Man s assertion that all allegoric narratives tell the story of a failure of reading. Therefore, the defeat of Intelligence will be understood both in terms of progression as well as in terms of a failure of reading. Furthermore, as Pessoa s Fausto is composed of poems that deal with the struggle between Life and Intelligence, this relationship will also be scrutinized in this dissertation