Pandemic and temporality in “O tempo denso,” by Vera Lúcia de Oliveira

Abstract

The article analyzed the configuration of temporality in nine poems that integrate O tempo denso, written by Vera Lúcia de Oliveira (2022) during the Covid-19 pandemic, denominated: “é um tempo parado;” “lidar com o silêncio é ligá-lo a um poste de luz;” “há tempo sem dentro;” “o tempo parado pinga;” “seu pulso tinha dentro o ponteiro;” “quarentena;” “o relógio afere o que não existe;” “esse tempo despenca sobre nós;” and “fendia a noite com a lâmpada.” It is intended to understand the relationship of the lyrical self with this moment of interiority, a turning to itself, raised by social isolation. Besides being a poet, the writer is a teacher of Portuguese and Brazilian Literature at the Department of Letters of Università degli Studi di Perugia, Italy. By bringing the theme of everyday life and the intersection of several temporal planes, the lyrical self produces knowledge about existence in the uninterrupted search for self-knowledge. The approach to the concept of time has always been a challenging topic, bravely addressed by philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, and Saint Augustine. Among contemporary thinkers, Paul Ricoeur (1994) argues that the temporal experience presents several aporias that are only solved on the level of subjectivity. Thus, it is possible to observe that the poems of Vera Lúcia de Oliveira (2022) on the constitutive temporality of man will systematize the conflicts of a difficult daily life imposed by the pandemic period.

Keywords:
pandemic; poetry; time; subjectivity