“a vastidão deles me afoga”
Tennessee Williams e a Síndrome de Stendhal, 1928
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13956084Keywords:
Thomas Lanier “Tennessee” Williams, Art, Marie-Henri Beyle [Stendhal], Neuroestética, Viagem e saúde mentalAbstract
Tennessee Williams narra em suas Memórias seus primeiros embates com doenças mentais durante uma grande viagem à Europa em 1928. Ele sentiu durante toda a sua vida que esses ataques de ansiedade eram o resultado de “demônios azuis” o perseguindo, e que apenas sua escrita os manteria afastados. Embora este artigo não queira diminuir a firme convicção de Williams de que a “loucura” (seu termo recorrente) era um perigo imediato e presente – embora a hipocondria certamente fizesse parte de sua constituição – aqui se sugere uma explicação alternativa para o que ele experimentou em Paris, Colônia e Amsterdã naquele verão: a Síndrome de Stendhal, uma teoria sobre sintomas psicossomáticos relacionados ao impacto avassalador de ter sido exposto a inúmeras obras-primas artísticas durante um período prolongado e frenético de viagens estrangeiras. A síndrome, que desencadeia um ataque de pânico agudo, é amenizada pelo retorno às rotinas diárias, que para Williams significava escrever. Portanto, é apenas ao compor um breve poema que ele finalmente se liberta de seu extenso ataque disautonômico, o que sugere que a neuroestética, não a intervenção divina, pode ter sido a verdadeira fonte de sua salvação, e que os “demônios azuis” que ele sentia o perseguindo ao longo de sua vida podem ter sido mais psicossomáticos do que reais. Embora essa leitura alternativa da condição de Williams tenha implicações óbvias nos estudos teatrais, seu estudo de caso também se estende à escrita de viagens em geral, para ajudar a explicar experiências distópicas semelhantes documentadas em relatos de viagem escritos ao longo do último século ou mais.
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