Writings of Love and Death: Consecration Through Pleasure and Sacrifice

Abstract

In the hyper-contemporary work “Enciclopédia da Estória Universal,” Portuguese author Afonso Cruz subverts the encyclopedic format to explore truths and fictions, using fictitious character-authors whose lives and works intertwine in an eternal game of reincarnation. The result is a profound exploration of writing as an act of sacrifice and consecration. One of these character-authors is a Carmelite nun who writes poems to God as a way of expressing the search for spiritual love through writings that express an unrequited erotic desire. Leaning on the studies of Georges Bataille and Roland Barthes, the work argues how eroticism is closely linked to death and sacrifice, and how it is seen as a means of consecration and a return to lost continuity. This consecration, in turn, happens through the sacrifice and pleasure of amorous and erotic writing. Using works such as the biblical “Song of Songs” and Mariana Alcoforado’s “Cartas Portuguesas,” we discuss, along with the poems of the fictitious nun, how love and desire are expressed through writing and how these feelings relate to the concept of sacrifice. Through these narratives, the text demonstrates that amorous sacrifice and carnal desire are forms of consecration that seek to transcend individuality and reach infinity, whether in a religious, philosophical, or literary context.