Shadows and fresh water

Abstract

Attempting to approach the of Raúl Antelo’s procedures, this essay constructs webs and weaves etymological relations between terms that pass through the colportage (“colporteur”), the Arabic word El-Matrac, the mascatearia (travelling peddler), the French word tract, in Portuguese panfleto (pamphlet) and proposes an alignment with the watermen activities. The suggested conjunction leads to the discovery of water in the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro and its subsequent commercialization by the waterman Domingos Camões. Through the crossing of these terms and information, in front of the Carioca toponym – the neighborhood of Água Santa – the text suggests the re-enchantment of the world and the history reactivation (even if invented, fictionalized), as well as the anti-theological-political stance for “a criticism that rescues the acephalous character of existence”, which Antelo challenges us to assume.