Farrapos de alma em palavras rasgados: a transcendência nos termos de Mia Couto

By leaning on the analysis of passages from certain literary works by Mia Couto, the present article aims to demonstrate that transcendence is an essential characteristic of the literary process. The word “transcendence” will be understood, in this ambit, as an enquiry that spreads beyond established limits, and the writer will be presented as a figure who goes through three phases of transcendence. In the first place, the writer will overcome the a priori he has been attributing to the world, returning to a puerile attitude of wonderment. This attitude will make reality appear renewed and will unveil aspects once concealed. In the second place, the artist will feel the need to exceed the frontiers of the standard language, in order to better portray one of his empirical experiences. We will not forget to mention that language, even if stretched by the writer, is always a suggestion – and never a faithful portrait – of the singular living of each person. In the third place, the writer will end up transcending himself: not only in the sense that he will transform a piece of his existence into writing – allowing his testimony to go beyond the individual sphere in which it was generated – but also, and above all, in the sense that he will enable others to go beyond the first authorial meanings.