Paraguayan overclock

Wilson Bueno’s cybernetics in Mar Paraguayo

Abstract

The article proposes an analysis of Mar Paraguayo (1992), by Wilson Bueno, based on the theoretical assumptions of cybernetics. To this end, some of the fundamental concepts of this science are defined based on the contributions of Norbert Wiener ([1954]) and Gregory Bateson (2019). Then, interfaces with the literature are established, especially through the critical proposals by Haroldo de Campos (2006a) and the concept of informational temperature of the aesthetic text. Based on this, we analyze how the literary portuñarí used in the text works as a feedback circuit interconnected to four linguistic systems – portuguese, spanish, portunhol and guarani. This circuit operates according to a specific configuration, in order to generate aesthetic information and stop the increasing entropy. Finally, the study focuses on a specific part of the text, in which the feedback process is overclocked. Thus, a positive feedback loop arises due to the addition of poetic images linked to the narrator’s desire – that is, the self-titled marafona del balneário – for the old man who supported her for years and for a boy who she observes on the beaches of Guaratuba, where she lives. However, the acceleration of the feedback processes represents a risk, because it can make the text collapse due to informational overheating.