As vozes, a pena e o pergaminho:

cultura escrita e produção literária no medievo

Abstract

This article aims to examine literary production in the medieval West, with an emphasis on the dialectical relationship between orality and writing, understood as a phenomenon shaped by the social, political, and economic structures of the period. It discusses the development of a written culture that did not eliminate the oral dimension but coexisted and interacted with it, giving rise to multiple forms of circulation and appropriation of texts. Based on an analysis that highlights the role of seigneurial aristocracy (both clerical and secular) in sponsoring and instrumentalizing literary works as tools of propaganda and legitimation of power, the study also problematizes the concept of “literature” as a historically and socially situated category. It explores the notion of literary consciousness and the influence of class relations on the creation and reception of literary works in the medieval West. Finally, it argues that understanding medieval literatures requires an organic articulation between material practices of production and the dynamics of domination that characterized the period, reaffirming the need for a critical approach that relates History, Literature, and social praxis.