O OUTRO SERTÃO: AS NARRATIVAS POPULARES DE MANOEL AMBRÓSIO

Abstract

Abstract: This paper presents the work of Manoel Ambrósio (1865-1947), an intellectual and writer from the sertão of Minas Gerais, who devoted himself to the study and promotion of the popular culture of the Middle São Francisco River. Despite his unawareness of literary criticism, Ambrósio is a "border" author, innovatively bridging the literary tradition and popular culture into an original narrative. His collection of short stories, Brasil Interior: Palestras Populares - Folk-lore das Margens do São Francisco (1934), exemplifies this singularity. In this work, Ambrósio reframes the traditional narratives of the sertão by constructing a multifocal point of view that exposes the tensions between two perspectives: that of the Brazilian national state and that of its people. By the analysis of one of his short stories, this paper aims to situate Ambrósio within the broader context of Brazilian intellectual and literary history.

Keywords: Manoel Ambrósio; Brasil Interior; Folklore; Popular narratives; Perspectivism