Replies in time: mnemonic relationship between Cartas Chilenas and Resposta às Cartas Chilenas

Abstract

In this paper, we focus on the mnemonic relationship between Cartas Chilenas, a work of the eighteenth century attributed to Thomas Antônio Gonzaga, and Respostas às Cartas Chilenas, written in 1991 by Napoleão Valadares. Working in the context of language studies, we adopt a route of discursive description and interpretation of this relationship, which highlights aspects of literary, ociopolitical and cultural memories. For this, we will use the notions of dialogism (Bakhtin) and memory (Charaudeau), highlighting its three dimensions – the memory of signs, the memory of situations and the memory of discourse. We realize that the inclusion at memory of Respostas às Cartas Chilenas made to emerge - amid the satirical tradition and the denunciations of bad government - a set of sociopolitical values staged as arguments counter the government of President Fernando Collor de Mello. Thus, the relationship between mnemonic in these works contributes to the design the persuasive project of Valadares.