Abstract
This article proposes a reading of Corsino Fortes’ A Cabeça Calva de Deus in the light of a literarily-constructed perspective on the past and the future of Cape Verde. It is my claim that his poetry invests in forms of Biblical figures, themes and discursive injunctions, in a range which goes from the prophetic to the apocalyptic, producing a heteroclite and omnivorous poetic mythology. By bringing together mythical and natural elements, Corsino seems to explore the potentialities of the prophetic mode (usually associated with the future) as a possibility of reflecting upon history. We will then consider how the sphere of sacredness created in the text calls for an understanding of the power of the Biblical imaginary as a literary source for the resemantization of the discourse about the nation.
Keywords
Epic poetry; prophecy; Corsino