Mirrors, identities: Brazil and its reflections

Abstract

Mirrors have been present in the cultural history of many peoples, and many times they have served to reflect on the identity, religious life or psychological life of these peoples. In Latin American literature, the constant presence of mirrors means that the search for identity, even so many years after the different countries have been established, is still an important issue. Using a statement by Bioy Casares, a character in Jorge Luis Borges's short story “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius”, “mirrors and copulation are abominable,” as a frame, this discussion presents works by several Brazilian writers who have used the image of the mirror to discuss the identity of the country. Even though each writer, Machado de Assis, Guimarães Rosa, Roberto Drummond and Helena Parente Cunha, expresses the specific cultural anxiety of his or her time, it is always clear that the identity of the country is not a fixed recipe.