SILVIANO SANTIAGO AND THE ART OF LITERARY DECONSTRUCTION

Abstract

This The review analyzes the contributions of Silviano Santiago, one of the most relevant contemporary Brazilian intel lectuals, by presenting in his most recent book entitled The great clock, at what time the world begins again, a set of essays that combine philosophical reflection, cultural criticism and a deep concern with the direction of the contempo rary world. The work emerges as a dense and provocative dialogue about time, memory and transformation, exploring the role of literature, history and subjectivity in the construction and reconstruction of human experience. The essayist also discusses three important points from a theoretical and critical point of view of the classic models of comparative literature, which are: influence, copying and originality. From then on, Santiago makes a comparison between the lite rary work of Machado de Assis and that of Marcel Proust, establishing a point of discussion between them, as they are considered representatives of the literary canon and, therefore, the reading carried out aims to deconstruct, or to spell out the Eurocentric notion of universal value, that is, a value of judgment attributed to the literary work produced and disseminated everywhere in the West. Another point discussed concerns pastiche is analyzed in light of the production of Marcel Proust’s authorial body.