Written literature has become a privileged space for performance and, consequently, for recording and fostering of values and practices of various groups and social segments. In the short story analyzed in this essay – "Eguns" – João Antônio (1937-1996), a writer from São Paulo, presents a narrator who describes in detail an unusual religious celebration held in Bahia, meant for the cult of ancestors. Contemplative and respectful, it sticks to tell what is allowed by the religious tradition. Contact with alterity achieves the status of initiation rite and the experience – in a strong sense – is transferred to the reader.
João Antônio; Afro-Brazilian identity; contemporary Brazilian short-story; religion and literature