As representações da mulher bruxa em “Caminhando com os mortos” de Micheliny Verunschk

Abstract

Historically, the fi gure of the witch, strongly associated with the female body during the witch hunts, functioned as a central stereotype to marginalize and persecute women in the transition from feudalism to capitalism. In reality, what was presented as a religious reparation by the Tribunal of the Holy Offi ce was nothing more than a hunt for women, their autonomy, freedom, and protagonism. The novel Caminhando com os Mortos (2023), by Micheliny Verunschk, evokes this historical reality of violence against female bodies which, although it may seem obsolete, fi nds resonances in contemporaneity, establishing a dialogical movement between fi ction and reality. This work, supported by the historical context of the witch hunts and the transition from feudalism to capitalism ─ based on the theoretical assumptions of Barstow (1995), Federici (2019), Kramer and Sprenger (2024), Russel and Alexander (2019), and Chollet (2022) ─ explains what the witch hunts were, mainly in Europe and how they occurred in Brazil, investigating the persistence of the stereotyping of women as witches in reality and how these violences are represented in the narrative in question. Given this, the general objective of this work was to identify and characterize female representations in the work Caminhando com os Mortos . To this end, as a specifi c objective, a descriptive analysis of the characters Celeste and Eulália was carried out, based on studies on the fi ctional character by Candido (2014) and the work on natural witchcraft by Airin (2021). In this sense, both characters represent the fi gure of the witch woman, although with distinct meanings. Celeste, subjugated by religiosity and a victim of fi re, evokes the historical memory of countless women who suff ered the torment of the stake during the witch hunts, not encouraging a perspective of life, but representing its loss. In contrast, Eulália dedicates herself to her inner healing through plants, establishing a link with nature, perpetuating her female ancestry, and revealing characteristic traits of green witchcraft.