Duas águas as a historical, cultural and literary motto

Abstract

Published in 1956, the volume Duas águas brings together João Cabral de Melo Neto’s work up to that point and is part of a fruitful moment in Brazilian culture in general and Brazilian literature in particular, due to the repertoire that surrounds it as well as the writing performance recorded within. Through this publication, the author joined the group of authors that best represents Brazilian literature, without ceasing to engage with the more remote Portuguese language tradition, including by activating thematic and formal references from Spain, which becomes a source for its expression from then on. The duality inscribed in the title extends from the work’s spelling to its broad understanding, at once nativist and cosmopolitan, as well as being engraved in the most evident graphic aspects of the poems, such as the stanza and the poems’ titles. Such aspects were notably observed in the subsequent editions of the books Pedra do Sono (1942) and O rio ou relação da viagem que faz o Capibaribe de sua nascente à cidade do Recife (1954), both re-edited in the same volume Duas águas, now appreciated as a trace of authorship and cultural conditioning.