Contributos para o estudo das relações entre arte e poder. Leituras de Mário-Henrique Leiria.

Abstract

In this paper, some of the critiques interwoven in the work of Mário-Henrique Leiria are zealously tackled, especially those referring to the establishment of art, through the demonstration of textual elements which indicate the different power structures that art had been exposed to, and in which way the relations between the said power structures and such critiques have evolved since the surrealist period of the author (1949 – 1951) until the time of the publication of his works, during the 70s.

         The analysis of a narrative out of Contos do Gin Tonic (Gin Tonic Short Stories), supported by the author’s critical texts, originated the discussion around several themes which are directly connected with art, such as the artistic milieu, the artist, the artistic object, artistic reception and art criticism.

         Art and literature, as means of expression of inconformity and instruments of subversion, are Mário-Henrique Leiria’s preferential weapons of choice.

Literature, in particular, is subject to be regarded here under the perspective of its stylistic devices – irony, parody, plain humor and dark humor –, which hold a triple functional aspect: as different discursive strategies for expressing a perspective of the existence of a certain political and social contingency; as a means of uprising which is essentially made by the word; and, finally, as a way to access a unique space of freedom, which is, therefore, that of the artistic creation.