Master Dissertation

Sá (2012, p. 23) considers that in the Amazon culture the world was not created all at once, but rather "from multiple genesis, dreams and continuous metamorphosis". This masters thesis proposes a study of metamorphoses present in Poranduba amazonense (1890), by Barbosa Rodrigues, in which the author collects, transcribes and translates reports of oral literature from the nineteenth-century Amazon. Initially, it discusses a few meanings of literature concept in defense of the study into oral literature, which porandubas belong to. Also is explored the use of terms such as myth, legend and folktale linking the definitions - not always consonants - of Cascudo (2006), Jolles (1972) and others. The presentation of "The Morphology of North American Indian Folktales", by Alan Dundes (1996), developed from the work of Vladimir Propp and Kenneth Pike, it is useful insofar as it will also be applied as methodological apparatus in the study of metamorphic processes in nineteen narratives. The Dundes model employed to the studied narratives proves itself effective by showing that they are not devoid of structure and organization. However, it is argued that, to analyze the metamorphoses of our corpus, is beneficial to make use of the Propps function F. Wonder whether, by adapting the morphology of Propp, Dundes would not have diminished it excessively for assuming the less complex indigenous texts.