Tupan dans les œuvres indianistes: Un mythe littéraire

Abstract

First regarded as being without faith, the Indigenous people of Brazil were endowed with a God of Tupi origin now famous, Tupan. Tupan has become a reference in terms of indigenous beliefs. Many texts, anthropological or literary, refer to Tupan. After the Independence of Brazil, the Indians are in fashion. They make it possible to create this affiliation to the continent which Brazilians need to get rid of the Portuguese yoke. Indianism is used for the imperial construction project of the State of Dom Pedro II. Attracted by Indigenous autochthony, the Brazilian romantics create native fictional characters to draw a national identity and endow Brazil with a clean and original literature. There is, of course, a major gap between the life of the Indigenous people in the Brazilian territory and the fictional writings that represent them. The use of tupi words and notions in the literature adds to the descriptions of the lush nature of Brazil and are part of a project to build a national literature. The arrival of Tupan in literature fits into this line of creation of a Brazilian national literature.