IMAGENS DA DECADÊNCIA EM SALOMÉ DE FERNANDO PESSOA: CONTINUIDADE E RECONTEXTUALIZAÇÃO

This paper aims to examine the fragments pertaining to Salomé, an unfinished dramatic text from Fernando Pessoa’s static theatre project, taking into account their continuity with the representations of Salomé’s myth in European Symbolist and Decadent literature, but also the new meanings this myth acquires in the context of Pessoa’s work. The Salomé character, present in Portuguese fin de siècle literature and also in works by several writers of the Orpheu group, corresponds to the Decadent femme fatale type identified by Mario Praz and, according to Frank Kermode, personifies the transcendent image pursued by Romantics and Symbolists.