Fable of Cláudio Manuel da Costa: Mining and Poetry in a Colonial Context

Abstract

In his lyrical poem “Fable of the Brook of the Carmo”, Cláudio Manuel da Costa imagines a mythical origin for the Captaincy of Minas Gerais and the main economic activity that has incited its occupation by Luso-Brazilian settlers. It is the tale of the birth of the river that flows through the city of Mariana, where the poet was born. As he follows the classical model of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Cláudio Manuel incorporates Minas Gerais and its hydrographic basin into the mythological heritage that irrigated the whole literary tradition of the West. At the same time, he stresses the distinctive colonial character of such an incorporation with a story of exile and violence.