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Este artículo se propone revisar las prácticas de citación en un conjunto de exámenes realizados por estudiantes que comienzan sus carreras universitarias en una institución argentina, en particular los modos en que se construyen dos tipos de citas: las citas textuales y las citas de reformulación. Debido a las dificultades recurrentes que se observan en esta incorporación, busca categorizar estos problemas y determinar su frecuencia de aparición. El material de análisis está constituido por una muestra de ochocientos exámenes pertenecientes a dos materias iniciales que se dictaron bajo la modalidad virtual y presencial. Este estudio, por un lado, da cuenta de diversos problemas que surgen en las prácticas de citación y que involucran tanto aspectos que pueden inscribirse en el plano formal como aquellos que lo exceden. Por el otro, demuestra que la distribución de estas rupturas no son siempre equivalentes. Algunas de estas transgresiones podrían atribuirse al encuentro entre el o la ingresante con convenciones académicas ajenas a sus experiencias previas; no obstante, muchas de ellas evidencian estudiantes con escaso entrenamiento en la lectura y la escritura.

This article intends to examine the citation practices in a set of exams taken by students who begin their university careers in an Argentine institution, in particular the ways in which two types of citations are constructed: textual citations and reformulation citations. Due to the recurring difficulties that are observed in this incorporation, it seeks to categorize these problems and determine their frequency of appearance. The analysis material is made up of a sample of eight hundred exams belonging to two initial courses that were dictated under the virtual and face-to-face modality. This study on the one hand, reports on various problems that arise in citation practices and that involve both aspects that can be included in the formal level and those that go beyond it. On the other, it shows that the distribution of these ruptures is not always equivalent. Some of these transgressions could be attributed to the encounter between the first-year students with academic conventions alien to their previous experiences; however many of them show students with little training in reading and writing.

Este artigo tem como objetivo analisar as práticas de citação num conjunto de exames realizados por alunos em início de carreira universitária numa instituição argentina, em particular, as formas como são construídos dois tipos de citações: as citações textuais e as citações de reformulação. Devido às dificuldades recorrentes observadas nesta incorporação, procurase categorizar estes problemas e determinar a sua frequência de ocorrência. O material de análise é constituído por uma amostra de 800 provas de exame de duas disciplinas iniciais leccionadas online e presencialmente. Este estudo, por um lado, revela varios problemas que surgem nas práticas de citação e que envolvem tanto aspectos que podem ser inscritos no nível formal como aqueles que vão para além dele. Por outro lado, mostra que a distribuição dessas rupturas nem sempre é equivalente. Algumas dessas transgressões podem ser atribuídas ao encontro do participante com convenções académicas alheias às suas experiências anteriores; no entanto, muitas delas são evidencias de estudantes com pouca formação em leitura e escrita.

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This study attempts to generate new insights into the wide spread online and offline conspiratorial discourse on COVID-19. Twofold analytical lens consisted of narrative interrelations framework and content analysis showed how the linguistic resources and conversational such as popular socio-religious discourses, hypothetical narratives, personal narratives, personal mental archives, and interpolated arguments are integrated in the interpretation of intertextual Bases such as Bill Gates' TED talk 2015 (26%); Nematullah Wali's predictions (32%); 'End of Days' book by Sylvia Browne (14.9%); and 'The Eyes of Darkness' novel by Dean Koontz (22%) by which the conspiracists in Pakistan construct an internally persuasive discourse promoting conspiracy theories on COVID-19. Several linguistic resources such as mood, modality, topicalization, insinuation, and intertextuality emerged as the main tools of making the conspiracy theories internally persuasive.

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In the following paper, I present the hero-villain-fool narrative construction method in order to assess hidden organizational phenomena. Psychologists can analyze organizations in two ways either by focusing upon formal networks (e.g. organigram) or by taking a closer look into informal networks. The present paper tries to help organizational psychologists to generate meaning making within informal networks. These informal networks are important semiotic spaces where knowledge is generated that lies in the taboo zone of talking for the formal networks. Thus, my open interview guide proposes a flexible method that can reverse the taboo zone of talking and expand the talkability zone. As a consequence, meaning making is generated that bears conflicts showing urgent - yet not fulfilled - needs within the organization. The proposed method is instanced by a microgenetic analysis of a single case study showing that the hero works as a meta-organizer for adaptive trajectories that lead into a multilateral negotiation of concrete strategies fulfilling urgent pressing needs within organizations. Limitations are made explicit such as by arguing for expanding the research design into focus groups inviting various employees and leaders to the generation of meaning making that operates between the talkability and taboo zone of talking.

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This analysis has two interlinked goals. First, drawing on Lee Edelman, Dudley Andrew and Laura Mulvey, it theorizes the male homosexual optique, a mode of address that is predicated on the relationship between a film, its context of reception and its spectator, and which undermines the heterosexual exigencies of classical narrative style to implicitly address a gay male viewer. Second, it illustrates how the putatively heterosexual romance of Curtis Harrington's Night Tide (1961) appeals to gay male spectators through two mechanisms that underpin the optique, specifically the homosexual gaze and characterization. Key to each of these aims is how the non-normative heterosexual male body functions as a site of gay male objectification and identification. This article ultimately argues that Harrington's film enables us to envisage a queer cinema that is not predicated on fictions of homosexual desire but nevertheless provides a framework for deepening our understanding of what queer spectatorship (and the male homosexual gaze in particular) may involve.

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Academic writing not only conveys academic content but also represents the authorial identity, serving as a means of presenting one's identity. Writers utilize various linguistic resources to present different possibilities of self, such as intertextuality, thereby constructing their authorial identity. This study examines the Chinese EFL learners' construction of authorial identity in academic writing from an intertextuality perspective. This study adopts a mixed method, utilizing interviews and written texts as data sources. Results were found that novice writers primarily construct their identities through the practices of direct intertextuality during the initial stages of identity construction. As novice writers gain more experience through extensive reading and writing practices, as well as academic writing courses, their intertextuality practices undergo a transformation. They begin to shift from direct intertextuality to indirect intertextuality, aiming to express their own conceptions, attempting to be like a "scholar" through indirect intertextuality. The study highlights the importance of intertextuality in the construction of academic writing identity for EFL learners. By understanding the interplay between intertextuality and authorial identity, educators can better assist EFL learners in achieving success in their academic writing endeavors.

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El recurso de la narrativa literaria permite analizar el film "El discurso del Rey" desde una perspectiva diferente a las disponibles. Se trata de leerlo a partir del concepto de puesta en abismo (mis en abyme), encontrando una escena dentro de la escena, en la que la segunda ofrece las pistas para inteligir claves de la primera. Este recurso se aplica a dos pasajes clave del film, permitiendo así analizarlo como una ficción clínica y comprender mejor las vicisitudes psicológicas del personaje y sus posibles salidas

The resource of literary narrative allows us to analyze the film "The King's Speech" from a different perspective than those currently available. It is a matter of reading it from the concept of "mis en abyme", finding a scene within the scene, in which the second offers the clues to understand the keys of the first. This resource is applied to two key passages of the film, thus allowing it to be analyzed as a clinical fiction and to better understand the psychological vicissitudes of the character and the possible ways out of it

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Advancing the concept of multimodal voicing as a tool for describing user-generated online humour, this paper reports a study on humorous COVID-19 mask memes. The corpus is drawn from four popular social media platforms and examined through a multimodal discourse analytic lens. The dominant memetic trends are elucidated and shown to rely programmatically on nested (multimodal) voices, whether compatible or divergent, as is the case with the dissociative echoing of individuals wearing peculiar masks or the dissociative parodic echoing of their collective voice. The theoretical thrust of this analysis is that, as some memes are (re)posted across social media (sometimes going viral), the previous voice(s) - of the meme subject/author/poster - can be re-purposed (e.g. ridiculed) or unwittingly distorted. Overall, this investigation offers new theoretical and methodological implications for the study of memes: it indicates the usefulness of the notions of multimodal voicing, intertextuality and echoing as research apparatus; and it brings to light the epistemological ambiguity in lay and academic understandings of memes, the voices behind which cannot always be categorically known.

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The intertextual analysis of Dora illuminates an aspect of the cultural matrix that informed Freud's theory-building. Specifically, the trope of the suggestive text, a literal and symbolic agent of transgressive influence, signals an intertextual relationship between the case history and a vein of literary fiction that includes novels by some of Freud's favourite authors: Cervantes (Don Quijote), Flaubert (Madame Bovary) and Zola (Page d'amour). It is posited that the suggestive text in Dora acts both as an literal agent of dangerous suggestion, and as a figurative symbol of the occult literary influence that intrudes upon the text, impacting Freud's formulation of his subject; his documentation of her case; and his ensuing conceptualization of the transference. The author ventures that literary fiction and other cultural products function as important objects, shaping our fantasy life, object representations, and transferences.

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How do ideas come into being? Our contribution takes its starting point in an observation we made in empirical data from a prior study. The data center around an instant of an academic writer's thinking during the revision of a scientific paper. Through a detailed discourse-oriented micro-analysis, we zoom in on the writer's thinking activity and uncover the genesis of a complex idea through a sequence of interrelated moments. These moments feature different degrees of "crystallization" of the idea; from gestures, a sketch, a short written note, oral explanations to a final spelled-out written argument. For this contribution, we re-analyze the material, asking how the idea gets formed during the thinking process and how it reaches a tangible form, which is understandable both for the thinker and for other persons. We root our analysis in a notion of language as social, embodied, and dialogical activity, drawing on concepts from Humboldt, Jakubinskij, and Vygotsky. We focus our analysis on three conceptual nodes. The first node is the ebbing and advancing of language in idea formation - observable as a trajectory through linguistically more condensed or more expanded utterance forms. The second node is the degree of objectification that the idea reaches when it is performed differently in a variety of addressivity constellations, i.e., whether and how it becomes understandable to the thinker and to others in the social sphere. Finally, the third node is the saturation of the idea through what we call intrapersonal intertextuality, i.e., its complex and dialogically related re-articulations in a sequence of formative moments. With these considerations, we articulate a clear consequence for theorizing thinking. We hold that thinking is social, embodied, and dialogically organized because it is entangled with language. Ideas come into being and become understandable and communicable to other persons only by and within their different, yet, intertextually related formations.

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The planned removal of a Civil War monument in Charlottesville, Virginia, was the pretext for a white supremacist rally there in August 2017. It brought American fascists back into the streets, marching under the banner of a virulent nativism, of a vicious fear of being removed from the pedestal of their proper place in society. It also brought to the minds of people watching these images on TV older visual repertoires dating back to Nazi-Germany, fascist Italy, and similar racist clashes elsewhere. In such a stream of consciousness, such a chain of visual recollections, national settings-American or otherwise-are transcended. The wandering-and wondering-mind of the observer moves in a space naturally trans-national. The following essay considers the implications of such mental processes for the established forms of discourse among historians.

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Authors often convey meaning by referring to or imitating prior works of literature, a process that creates complex networks of literary relationships ("intertextuality") and contributes to cultural evolution. In this paper, we use techniques from stylometry and machine learning to address subjective literary critical questions about Latin literature, a corpus marked by an extraordinary concentration of intertextuality. Our work, which we term "quantitative criticism," focuses on case studies involving two influential Roman authors, the playwright Seneca and the historian Livy. We find that four plays related to but distinct from Seneca's main writings are differentiated from the rest of the corpus by subtle but important stylistic features. We offer literary interpretations of the significance of these anomalies, providing quantitative data in support of hypotheses about the use of unusual formal features and the interplay between sound and meaning. The second part of the paper describes a machine-learning approach to the identification and analysis of citational material that Livy loosely appropriated from earlier sources. We extend our approach to map the stylistic topography of Latin prose, identifying the writings of Caesar and his near-contemporary Livy as an inflection point in the development of Latin prose style. In total, our results reflect the integration of computational and humanistic methods to investigate a diverse range of literary questions.

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This article argues that African-American director Dee Rees' critically acclaimed debut Pariah (2011) is a rewriting of lesbian poet-activist Audre Lorde's iconic "bio-mythography" Zami: A New Spelling of My Name (1982). The article examines how Rees' work creatively and subtly re-envisions Lorde's Zami by way of deeply rooted and often cleverly camouflaged patterns, resonances, and contrasts. Shared topics include naming, mother-daughter bonds, the role of clothing in identity formation, domestic abuse, queer time, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender legacy discourse construction. What emerges between the visual and written texts is a hidden language of connection--what may be termed Black lesbian steganography--which proves thought-provoking to viewers and readers alike.

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A data-based quantitative study was conducted by examining 43 bilingual package inserts of Chinese medicine. The results indicated that most inserts were poorly constructed with incomplete formats. Furthermore, there seemed no standardized translationforthe section titles, and some of them were even translated incorrectly. It was suggested that insert translation should follow the “reader-centered principle” which was determined by its communicative purpose. Translators should take full advantage of intertextual reference and construct complete and standard insert formats of Chinese medicine, thus helping readers obtain information more quickly and easily. This paper intends to advance some suggestions concerning the text constructionof bilingual package inserts of Chinese medicineand help enterprises in this line increase their competitiveness in the international market.

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O artigo investiga possíveis aproximações e eventuais afastamentos entre a filosofia de Arthur Schopenhauer e a psicanálise de Sigmund Freud.

The paper investigates possible approximations and eventual divergences between Arthur Schopenhauer's philosophy and Sigmund Freud's psychoanalysis.

El artículo investiga las posibles aproximaciones y los eventuales alejamientos entre la filosofía de Arthur Schopenhauer y el psicoanálisis de Sigmund Freud.

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O objetivo da presente pesquisa é desvendar as interferências de outros gêneros trabalhados por Nelson Rodrigues, que teriam um vínculo menor com a verdade - especificamente o teatro -, nas construções sobre o futebol, edificadas na crônica esportiva do escritor. Atrelado a isso, intenta-se, ainda, expor o sentido com que Nelson utilizou tais recursos em seus textos futebolísticos, bem como as diversas influências a partir da leitura de clássicos da literatura nacional e mundial; ou até as nem sempre sutis referências a filósofos, sociólogos e mesmo os amigos intelectuais com quem dialogava. Para tal, contou-se com a análise de crônicas e roteiro rodrigueanos, pautada no referencial de Antonio Candido, quanto ao tratamento da literatura enquanto fonte, segundo o qual se faz necessária a intersecção entre texto (autonomia do autor e fatores de arte), bem como contexto da obra

The objective of this research is to reveal the interferences from other genres worked by Nelson Rodrigues, which have a minor relation with the truth - specifically theater - in theses about football, built in sport chronics by the writer. It also aims to expose the sense that Nelson used these resources in his texts about football, as well as the various forms of influences from the reading of classic world and national literature; or even the implicit references to philosophers, sociologists and, also, the intellectual friends, with whom he used to dialogue. To this end, it was analysed the chronic and script of Nelson Rodrigues, based on the theory of Antonio Candido, about the treatment of literature as a source, intersecting the text (author's autonomy and elements of art) and the context of the work

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A contribuição de Betty Joseph é examinada à luz do conceito de intertextualidade (Octavio Paz) e dentro do contexto dos desenvolvimentos clínicos da cultura psicanalítica da Sociedade Britânica de Psicanálise. Os autores buscam relacionar dialeticamente as ideias dela com as contribuições de Klein, Balint, Rycroft, Bion, Rosenfeld, Segal e outros. Betty Joseph focava sua abordagem no que estava ocorrendo no aqui e agora da sessão, e procurava discernir os convites inconscientes que o paciente fazia ao analista (por meio de identificações projetivas) para atuar certos papéis ou sentir certos sentimentos, com vistas a manter seu equilíbrio psíquico inalterado e dessa forma impedir qualquer mudança psíquica de ocorrer. Estas projeções e a resposta do analista a elas podem ou não produzir uma mudança psíquica que desafia seu estado atual de equilíbrio psíquico, o que por sua vez nos permite observar como o passado é vivido no presente, reafirmando o caráter imediato da verdade psíquica. As primeiras contribuições publicadas de Betty Joseph datam do fim dos anos de 1950, mas pensamos que ela atinge o pico de sua singularidade na década de 1970.

The contribution of Betty Joseph is examined in light of the concept of intertextuality (Octavio Paz) and within the context of the clinical developments of the psychoanalytic culture of the British Psychoanalytical Society. The authors try to dialectically relate her ideas to the contributions of Klein, Balint, Rycroft, Bion, Rosenfeld and Segal, among others. Betty Joseph would focus her approach on what was happening in the here and now of the session and would seek to identify the unconscious invitations which the patient would offer the analyst (through projective identifications) to play certain parts or feel certain feelings, in view of maintaining its psychic balance unaltered, therefore stopping any psychic change from occurring. These projections, and the analyst's response to them, may or may not produce a psychic change that challenges its current state of mental balance, which, in turn, allows us to observe how the past is lived in the present, reaffirming the immediacy of psychic truth. The first published contributions of Betty Joseph date from the late 1950s, but we believe that she reaches the peak of her singularity in the 1970s.

La contribución de Betty Joseph se examina a la luz del concepto de intertextualidad (Octavio Paz) y dentro del contexto de los desarrollos clínicos de la cultura psicoanalítica de la Sociedad Psicoanalítica Británica. Los autores tratan de relacionar dialécticamente las ideas de ella con las contribuciones de Klein, Balint, Rycroft, Bion, Rosenfeld, Segal y otros. Betty Joseph se basaba en lo que estaba ocurriendo en el aquí y ahora de la sesión e intentaba identificar las invitaciones inconscientes que el paciente hacía al analista (a través de las identificaciones proyectivas) para actuar ciertos papeles o sentir ciertos sentimientos, con el objetivo de mantener su equilibrio psíquico inalterado y de esa forma impedir cualquier cambio psíquico. Estas proyecciones y la respuesta del analista a ellas pueden o no producir un cambio psíquico que desafía a su actual estado de equilibrio mental, lo que a su vez nos permite observar cómo el pasado es vivido en el presente, reafirmando la inmediatez de la verdad psíquica. Las primeras contribuciones publicadas de Betty Joseph datan de finales de los cincuenta, pero sus ideas llegan a la cumbre de su singularidad en los años setenta.

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Recent research has highlighted how parental narratives can be important in the resistance against disabling processes. This article contains analyses of enabling language in narratives published by Scandinavian disability rights organizations. First, drawing on the work of Fisher and Goodley, I point out that the material constitute a threefold: normality narratives, resistance narratives, and narratives that demonstrate an appreciation of the present and the child's individual alterity. Second, I demonstrate that the last narrative draws on Romanticism rather than linguistic resources from disability culture. Third, I show that these narratives are hyperboles - texts that strengthen and emphasise the valuation to the point where the narrative structure transcends narrative consistency. Fourth, drawing on the work of Kristeva, I argue that this form of narration constitutes an intimate politics of love.

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Este artigo propõe aproximar a Linguística Aplicada de um contexto pouco estudado nos estudos da linguagem no Brasil: a prevenção de DST/Aids. Com base em uma perspectiva não essencialista das relações entre linguagem e identidades sociais, discute-se a importância de atentarmos ao uso de linguagem nesse contexto e descreve-se a construção interacional de identidades em intervenções para distribuição de preservativos entre travestis que se prostituem em uma região urbana do sul do Brasil. Os dados indicam que, durante as intervenções, Sandra e Márcia, mulheres em gênero e sexo, engajam-se em interações nas quais utilizam intertextos identitários associados a identidades não tradicionais e, assim, produzem o efeito de adequação de suas identidades às travestis e ao contexto interacional onde se inserem. Argumenta-se que linguagem, identidade e intertextualidade são construtos fundamentais para entendermos esse contexto interacional e para o combate à disseminação de DST/Aids.

This paper proposes to approach Applied Linguistics to a little studied context in language studies in Brazil: the prevention of STD/AIDS. Based on a non-essentialist view of the relationship between language and social identities, it discusses the importance of minding the use of language in this context and describes the interactional construction of identities in interventions for distribution of condoms among transvestite prostitutes in an urban region of Southern Brazil. Data indicate that during the talks, Sandra and Marcia, female gender and sex, engage in interactions in which they use identity inter-texts associated with non-traditional identities and thus produce the effect of the adequacy of their identities to the transvestites and to the interactional context in which they operate. It argues that language, identity and inter-textuality are fundamental constructs to understand this interactional context and to address the spread of STD/AIDS.

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O objetivo deste artigo é demonstrar como a busca do significado do termo inferno é uma obsessão semiótica que perpassa pela obra inteira de Graciliano Ramos. Tudo começa na dúvida que assalta o menino mais velho, personagem de Vidas Secas, quando este, ao ouvir uma “palavra esquisita” - inferno -, procura saber o significado; pergunta à mãe (sinhá Vitória), ao pai (Fabiano) e até à cachorra Baleia, mas não consegue descobrir o que é inferno. Ao fazer a pergunta “O que é inferno?”, o menino instaura de pronto um problema semiótico, na medida em que, conforme a clássica lição de Ferdinand de Saussure, ele detém o significante, mas não conhece o significado. Ao pedir explicações à mãe, o menino fica sabendo que o inferno é “um lugar ruim”. Para compreender esse significado, ele indaga de sinhá Vitória se ela já tinha ido ao inferno para saber se era um lugar ruim. Tal indagação lhe vale uma repreensão e uma pancada na cabeça. Mas a pergunta do menino era da mais legítima prática semiótica, pois como sinhá Vitória poderia saber que o inferno é um lugar ruim, se nunca tinha ido lá? Estamos diante de uma ampla questão semiótica que envolve a relação entre os signos, o conhecimento e a realidade. Para explicar o conhecimento de sinhá Vitória a respeito do inferno, temos de recorrer às teorias de Mikhail Bakhtin e, mais especificamente, a seus conceitos de intertextualidade e polifonia. No artigo, demonstraremos como inferno é uma “realidade” construída por toda uma rede de discursos intertextuais e polifônicos, produzidos em diferentes épocas e culturas. É justamente contra essa construção semiótica realizada pelo discurso do mundo adulto que se insurge Graciliano, em Infância, na medida em que questiona “as certezas” das instituições (família, escola, religião). E não é por acaso que uma dessas “certezas” questionadas é a existência do inferno. Em Infância, ao negar o inferno, desafiando a própria mãe e a Igreja, Graciliano é, na verdade, o menino mais velho de Vidas Secas na busca obstinada pela significação do mundo.(AU)

The aim of this article is to demonstrate how the search for the meaning of the word hell is a semiotic obsession that pervades through the entire work of Graciliano Ramos. All starts with the doubt that assails the oldest boy, character of Vidas Secas, when he, upon hearing a “strange word” - hell -, tries to find out its meaning, asks his mother (sinhá Vitória), father (Fabiano) and even the dog Baleia, but cannot figure out what hell is. In asking the question “What is hell?” the boy at once establishes a semiotic problem, in the extent that, according to the classic lesson of Ferdinand de Saussure, he holds the significant, but does not know the meaning. When asking for explanations to his mother, the boy learns that hell is “a bad place”. To understand this meaning, he asks sinhá Vitória if she had ever gone to hell to know if it was a bad place. This inquiry earns him a rebuke and a blow to the head. But the question of the boy was the most legitimate semiotic practice, because how would sinhá Vitória know that hell is a bad place, if she had never been there? We are before a broad semiotic issue involving the relationship between the signs, the knowledge and the reality. To explain the knowledge of sinhá Vitória about hell, we must resort to the theories of Mikhail Bakhtin and, more specifically, to his concepts of intertextuality and polyphony. In the article, we will demonstrate how hell is a “reality” built by a whole network of intertextual and polyphonic discourses, produced in different times and cultures. It is precisely against this semiotic construction performed by the discourse of the adult world that Graciliano rebels in Infância (Childhood), in the extent that he questions “the certainties” of institutions (family, school, religion). And it is not a coincidence that one of these “certainties” questioned is the existence of hell. In Infância (Childhood), by denying hell, defying his own mother and the Church, Graciliano is actually the oldest boy of Vidas Secas in obstinate search for the meaning of the world.(AU)

El objetivo del presente artículo es demostrar como la búsqueda del significado del término infiernogira en torno a una observación semiótica a lo largo de toda la obra de Graciliano Ramos. Todo comienza con la duda que sorprende al niño mayor, personaje de Vidas Secas, cuando al escuchar una “palabra extraña” - infierno - intenta saber el significado; pregunta a su madre (señora Victoria), al padre (Fabiano) y hasta a la perra Ballena, pero no puede descubrir qué significa infierno. Al formular la pregunta “¿Qué es infierno?”, el niño inmediatamente instaura un problema semiótico, en la medida en que - de acuerdo a la clásica lección de Saussure - él también obtiene el significante pero no conoce el significado. Al solicitar explicaciones a su madre, el niño pasa a saber que el infierno es un “lugar malo”. Para comprender ese significado, él indaga de la señora Victoria si ya había ido al infierno como para saber que era un lugar malo. Tal indagación le cuesta una reprensión y un golpe en la cabeza. Pero la pregunta del niño era de la más legítima práctica semiótica porque ¿cómo la señora Victoria podría saber que el infierno era un lugar malo sin nunca haber ido hasta allá? Estamos frente a una amplia cuestión semiótica que envuelve la relación entre los signos, el conocimiento y la realidad. Para explicar el conocimiento de la señora Victoria al respecto del infierno, tenemos que recurrir a las teorías de Mikhail Bakhtin y, más específicamente, a sus conceptos de intertextualidad y polifonía. En este artículo demostraremos como infierno es una “realidad” construida por toda una red de discursos intertextuales y polifónicos, producidos en diferentes épocas y culturas. Es justamente contra esa construcción semiótica realizada por el discurso del mundo adulto que se alza Graciliano, en Infancia, en la medida en que cuestiona “las certezas” de las instituciones (familia, escuela, religión). No es por acaso que una de esas “certezas” cuestionadas se trate de la existencia del infierno. En Infancia, al negar el infierno, desafiando a la propia madre y a la Iglesia, Graciliano verdaderamente es el niño mayor de Vidas Secas en la obstinada búsqueda por el significado del mundo.(AU)

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O objetivo deste artigo é demonstrar como a busca do significado do termo inferno é uma obsessão semiótica que perpassa pela obra inteira de Graciliano Ramos. Tudo começa na dúvida que assalta o menino mais velho, personagem de Vidas Secas, quando este, ao ouvir uma “palavra esquisita” - inferno -, procura saber o significado; pergunta à mãe (sinhá Vitória), ao pai (Fabiano) e até à cachorra Baleia, mas não consegue descobrir o que é inferno. Ao fazer a pergunta “O que é inferno?”, o menino instaura de pronto um problema semiótico, na medida em que, conforme a clássica lição de Ferdinand de Saussure, ele detém o significante, mas não conhece o significado. Ao pedir explicações à mãe, o menino fica sabendo que o inferno é “um lugar ruim”. Para compreender esse significado, ele indaga de sinhá Vitória se ela já tinha ido ao inferno para saber se era um lugar ruim. Tal indagação lhe vale uma repreensão e uma pancada na cabeça. Mas a pergunta do menino era da mais legítima prática semiótica, pois como sinhá Vitória poderia saber que o inferno é um lugar ruim, se nunca tinha ido lá? Estamos diante de uma ampla questão semiótica que envolve a relação entre os signos, o conhecimento e a realidade. Para explicar o conhecimento de sinhá Vitória a respeito do inferno, temos de recorrer às teorias de Mikhail Bakhtin e, mais especificamente, a seus conceitos de intertextualidade e polifonia. No artigo, demonstraremos como inferno é uma “realidade” construída por toda uma rede de discursos intertextuais e polifônicos, produzidos em diferentes épocas e culturas. É justamente contra essa construção semiótica realizada pelo discurso do mundo adulto que se insurge Graciliano, em Infância, na medida em que questiona “as certezas” das instituições (família, escola, religião). E não é por acaso que uma dessas “certezas” questionadas é a existência do inferno. Em Infância, ao negar o inferno, desafiando a própria mãe e a Igreja, Graciliano é, na verdade, o menino mais velho de Vidas Secas na busca obstinada pela significação do mundo.

The aim of this article is to demonstrate how the search for the meaning of the word hell is a semiotic obsession that pervades through the entire work of Graciliano Ramos. All starts with the doubt that assails the oldest boy, character of Vidas Secas, when he, upon hearing a “strange word” - hell -, tries to find out its meaning, asks his mother (sinhá Vitória), father (Fabiano) and even the dog Baleia, but cannot figure out what hell is. In asking the question “What is hell?” the boy at once establishes a semiotic problem, in the extent that, according to the classic lesson of Ferdinand de Saussure, he holds the significant, but does not know the meaning. When asking for explanations to his mother, the boy learns that hell is “a bad place”. To understand this meaning, he asks sinhá Vitória if she had ever gone to hell to know if it was a bad place. This inquiry earns him a rebuke and a blow to the head. But the question of the boy was the most legitimate semiotic practice, because how would sinhá Vitória know that hell is a bad place, if she had never been there? We are before a broad semiotic issue involving the relationship between the signs, the knowledge and the reality. To explain the knowledge of sinhá Vitória about hell, we must resort to the theories of Mikhail Bakhtin and, more specifically, to his concepts of intertextuality and polyphony. In the article, we will demonstrate how hell is a “reality” built by a whole network of intertextual and polyphonic discourses, produced in different times and cultures. It is precisely against this semiotic construction performed by the discourse of the adult world that Graciliano rebels in Infância (Childhood), in the extent that he questions “the certainties” of institutions (family, school, religion). And it is not a coincidence that one of these “certainties” questioned is the existence of hell. In Infância (Childhood), by denying hell, defying his own mother and the Church, Graciliano is actually the oldest boy of Vidas Secas in obstinate search for the meaning of the world.

El objetivo del presente artículo es demostrar como la búsqueda del significado del término infiernogira en torno a una observación semiótica a lo largo de toda la obra de Graciliano Ramos. Todo comienza con la duda que sorprende al niño mayor, personaje de Vidas Secas, cuando al escuchar una “palabra extraña” - infierno - intenta saber el significado; pregunta a su madre (señora Victoria), al padre (Fabiano) y hasta a la perra Ballena, pero no puede descubrir qué significa infierno. Al formular la pregunta “¿Qué es infierno?”, el niño inmediatamente instaura un problema semiótico, en la medida en que - de acuerdo a la clásica lección de Saussure - él también obtiene el significante pero no conoce el significado. Al solicitar explicaciones a su madre, el niño pasa a saber que el infierno es un “lugar malo”. Para comprender ese significado, él indaga de la señora Victoria si ya había ido al infierno como para saber que era un lugar malo. Tal indagación le cuesta una reprensión y un golpe en la cabeza. Pero la pregunta del niño era de la más legítima práctica semiótica porque ¿cómo la señora Victoria podría saber que el infierno era un lugar malo sin nunca haber ido hasta allá? Estamos frente a una amplia cuestión semiótica que envuelve la relación entre los signos, el conocimiento y la realidad. Para explicar el conocimiento de la señora Victoria al respecto del infierno, tenemos que recurrir a las teorías de Mikhail Bakhtin y, más específicamente, a sus conceptos de intertextualidad y polifonía. En este artículo demostraremos como infierno es una “realidad” construida por toda una red de discursos intertextuales y polifónicos, producidos en diferentes épocas y culturas. Es justamente contra esa construcción semiótica realizada por el discurso del mundo adulto que se alza Graciliano, en Infancia, en la medida en que cuestiona “las certezas” de las instituciones (familia, escuela, religión). No es por acaso que una de esas “certezas” cuestionadas se trate de la existencia del infierno. En Infancia, al negar el infierno, desafiando a la propia madre y a la Iglesia, Graciliano verdaderamente es el niño mayor de Vidas Secas en la obstinada búsqueda por el significado del mundo.