St. Lawrence night: the tanatography in Bernardo Élis

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the tale of the goiano writer Bernardo Élis Noite de São Lourenço (Night of Saint Lawrence), interweaving it with the spanish saint’s life, who died martyred in a bonfire. The tale is set inside Goiás, a place where it’s impossible to disassociate the natural elements of the sacred and mystical manifestations. We search to note in its naturalness the aspects of the region’s culture, and how the writer builds the plot, which floats into the tragic death of the main character, similar to what happened to the saint in his disastrous destiny. By using a patchwork and a pilgrimage that happens on the day dedicated to Saint Lawrence as a motto, Bernardo Élis subtly unveils the social relationships, the rusticity of the interior life and the popular religiosity that permeates daily life and manifests itself, for example, in the midst of novenas and pilgrimages.