REFLEXÕES SOBRE O SAGRADO E O PROFANO EM PERDIÇÃO, DE LUIZ VILELA.

Abstract

The literary production of Luiz Vilela is examined through several academic lenses, highlighting his mastery in crafting dialogues, exploring everyday themes with a literary style rooted in orality, and delving into the complexities of the human condition. His works also explore religious, erotic political and social themes, alongside the construction of narrators and other structural elements of the narrative. This study seeks to emphasize the tensions between the sacred and the profane, spiritual devotion versus secular impulses, the desacralization and commercialization of faith, and religious syncretism, all of which reflect biblical resonances in unique ways and play a fundamental role in the literary architecture of Perdição (2011), by Luiz Vilela. The research also examines the critical reception of Perdição, highlighting the theoretical frameworks of scholars who address themes of religion, the sacred and the profane, such as Holanda Ferreira, Mircea Eliade, Kuchenbecker, Jean-Pierre Vernant, Ortega Y Gasset, Émile Durkheim, Rudolf Otto, Georges Bataille, Octavio Paz, among others. These scholars also discuss narrative techniques, such as those analyzed by Osman Lins and Norman Friedman; the interconnections between biblical and literary narratives, as explored by by Northrop Frye; and the culture of contemporary luxury, examined by Gilles Lipovetsky and Elyette Roux. The analysis concludes that Perdição incisively criticizes the tension between the sacred and the profane through its characters, settings and skeptical narrator. Vilela’s work criticizes religious beliefs and institutions, promoting reflection on contemporary religiosity and the economic exploitation of faith.

Keywords: Contemporary Brazilian Fiction; Critical Reception; Style; Religion; Desacralization.