"SHUMPALL" AS A RE-SIGNIFICATION OF THE MAPUCHE ORAL STORY. EROTICISM, MYTH AND MYSTERY IN ROXANA MIRANDA RUPAILAF

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to expose and discuss the resignification of the oral story that we find in the book Shumpall by Roxana Miranda Rupailaf as a love song. From a comparative and dialogic perspective, connected with ancient European myths, we investigate some symbols such as the snake (as Shumpall), water, song, sinuosity, and pewma in various symbolic variants. Attention is paid to the sinuosities associated with the serpentine movements, which operate as meaning-producing devices in the author's poetry with its mythical and religious resonances. We rely on considerations taken from the book The Myth of the Goddess by A. Baring and J. Cashford and on statements by the author herself, taken from a personal interview. Shumpall is a relevant case of Mapuche poetic writing in which symbolic dimensions coming from very diverse cultures converge, dialogue, intermingle and respond to the same problem: the symbolic representation of our intimate connections with different dimensions of life and death.