“Everyone is on a pilgrimage”

the individualization of the city in Redemoinho em dia quente by Jarid Arraes

Abstract

Memory and affection are united through a chain of experiences, with one of the outcomes being the presence of an affective memory, which arises in moments of recollection not controlled by the individual, appearing within memories intertwined with feelings in an eternal cycle of feeling and (re)feeling. In the stories “Despedida de Juazeiro do Norte” and “As cores das fitas” by writer Jarid Arraes (2019), the protagonists find themselves in a process of recollecting their city, its tourist spots, and the main places that marked their lives during those moments of remembrance. Their individual memories do not escape the collective, finding in the perspectives of others new ways of seeing and remembering the places they have been. Therefore, there is a recovery of the past, the individualization of a city through an affectionate gaze, permeated by both the individual and the collective. To gain a better understanding of the topic addressed, through an exploratory bibliographical research approach, it was necessary to use theorists such as Halbwachs (2006), Assman (2011), Abreu (1998), Pesavento (2007), among others. This made it possible to identify the construction of the city's identity from the characters’ memories, which intertwine in a transformative affection that gives meaning to the city beyond a mere physical space.