The memory of the Azores in Cecilia Meireles’ writings

Abstract

The present paper aims to discuss about the Azorean legacy of Cecília Meireles. On the one hand, the writer reclaimed her family heritage passed on by her maternal grandmother and the collective memory of the islanders, expressed in the folklore, her primary research area of interest. She wrote Panorama Folclórico dos Açores, especialmente da Ilha de São Miguel (1958) and Notas do Folclore Gaúcho-Açoriano (1968). On the other, Cecília Meireles transformed isolation and marine elements into symbols alluding to feelings of being exiled, to the dream of returning and to yearning for an absolute reality. Closure and introspection, a bond with the land and, at the same time, openness and the impulse to travel are characteristic of the islander.