THE TERRIBLE BIRTH OF BEAUTY: LITERARY CREATION IN DIFFERENT AUTHORS

Abstract

Where does the inspiration to love ballads and songs of war, legends and narratives, tragedies and comedies, come from? For several centuries, writers and
readers have questioned themselves about the birth of beauty. In this article, I address this intriguing question in four steps: a) I examine several personifications created by Hesiod, Homer, Luís de Camões, and Federico García Lorca to personify inspiration; b) I explore the strategies used by Samuel Coleridge, Salvador Dalí and William Burroughs to penetrate in the realm of fantasy, the unconscious; c) I present the scientific explanations suggested by Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung and Robert Sperry to the creative impulse; d) To conclude, I mention the reasons that led Fernando Pessoa, Eugénio de Andrade and Emily Dickinson to mistrust the inspiring muse, favoring the effort that corrects the emotion and generates the work of art. Following a comparative perspective, my objective is to show different ways of perceiving literary creativity. In order to do so, I resort to the work of the above-mentioned writers and scientists and, naturally, to my personal opinion.