Koans, ascese, iluminação e budismo em “A menina de lá”, de Guimarães Rosa: a morte como Passagem, Gesta e Sacramento

Abstract

In a rare interview given by Guimarães Rosa, in 1966, the writer stressed the importance of the short story “A menina de lá” for the understanding of his complete works. On the other hand, literary critics often highlight the transcultural dimension of his usage of or dialogue with poetic, philosophical and religious texts from various cultures. This paper assumes that “A menina de lá” was written as a polysemic koan that reflects on the meaning of death in Asian cultures. We seek to identify the convergence between Nhinhinha, the main character, and her mirror image, another fictional character, João Guimarães Rosa. We start, therefore, from the history and characteristics of the literary genre koan, as well as from the history and beliefs of Ch’an (Zen) Buddhism, the founding tradition of koans. We also analyze religious symbols attached to the remaining characters. This paper ultimately aims to identity and analyze elements that could explain the last chapter written by Rosa: his enigmatic death three days after taking office at the Academia Brasileira de Letras.