Teatro em tempos de ditadura militar: acervo e crítica filológica dos documentos de censura da peça apareceu a margarida, de Roberto Athayde

Abstract

This dissertation is dedicated to the philological reading and critique of censorship documents related to the productions of Apareceu a Margarida, written by Roberto Athayde and severely censored between 1971 and 1985. Framed within the broader defense of memory, this study seeks to understand, through the analysis of the text’s circulation and its associated documents, how the mechanisms of prior censorship operated during the Brazilian military dictatorship and how such procedures impacted literary and theatrical creation at the time. Through the critique of documents—such as official letters, opinions, and censorship reports—this work analyzes the practices of control and artistic repression, as well as the resistance strategies employed by cultural producers. The research is grounded in the theoretical and methodological frameworks of Philology (Nietzsche, 1886; Gumbrecht, 2007) and Textual Criticism (Zancarini, 2011; Borges; Souza, 2012; Correia, 2013; Mota, 2017; Prudente, 2018), in interdisciplinary dialogue with Cultural History (Chartier, 2002; Garcia, 2008; Starling; Schwarcz, 2015), Archival Studies (Laet, 2013), and Diplomatics (Belloto, 2002). It explores censorship documents held at the National Archives in Brasília, considering them as historical testimonies. Methodologically, it is structured around the constitution of a philological dossier, involving recension, classification, cataloging, and digitization of the documents, as part of a philological critique (Borges; Souza, 2012) of censorship practices and the circulation of theatrical texts. The analysis of the multiple censored versions of the play allows for an understanding of the evolution of cultural control mechanisms and highlights the relationship between censorship and the construction of an authoritarian political memory. Moreover, the study reflects on the role of Philology as an ethical and critical practice capable of recovering silenced historical fragments, contributing to the strengthening of the rights to memory and freedom of expression. It thus positions itself as a response to contemporary historical revisionism and reaffirms the value of censorship documents as essential sources for the preservation and understanding of Brazilian literary history.