Civilizations decadence and ideals memory: the history philosophy in Raul Pompéia’s work - DOI: 10.4025/actascihumansoc.v25i2.2171

Abstract

The present work analyses the conception of History in Raul Pompéia’s work and the role attributed to the memory. To that, we have chosen as corpus the chronicle Cavaleiros Andantes (Wandering Knights), Professor Claudio’s second conference in O Ateneu (The High School) and the work Canções sem metro (Songs without metric), as we find a great narrative of the humanity in them, which makes possible to recognize a History Philosophy from it. Against the dominant ideologies at the end of the XIX century, we realise a reaction to the positive idea of progress, which is expressed in a decadentist and cyclic vision of History, whose eschatology without gods leads us, after the final cataclysm, to the stainless time of origin. However, despite the pessimism of the system, the repressed desire of the revolutionary rupture is latent in it and is able to rend the infernal cycle. The task of recording the tragedy of the ideals with the probable aim of keeping this flame alive is given to the artist. so it is to the historian