Cannibal Eros

The erotic myths of indigenous groups from Brazil make a disconcerting reading. Far from evoking an idyllic vision of amorous trysts they propose a repertoire that stands out for the staggering candor of its imagery, where sex operates freely between the sacred and the profane. This lecture will focus on the anthology Moqueca de Maridos (Barbecued Husbands, ed. Betty Mindlin), with its unlikely figures such as menstruating men, women with no vagina, mothers that eat their children and people who copulate with spirits.

Eliane Robert Moraes is Professor of Brazilian Literature at the University of São Paulo (USP, Brazil). A researcher investigating the relations between culture, literature and eroticism, her published books include six collections of essays and the first Brazilian Anthology of Erotic Poetry, edited in 2015 in Brazil and in 2017 in Portugal. She is currently a Visiting Professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese.