Os sentidos do passado ou o passado sentido

The present work intends to analyze the forms of representation of Sobral in the writings of Padre JoaÌ3o Mendes Lira (1925-2005). Lira wrote from 1970 to 1988, produced books, taught at colleges and at Vale do AcarauÌ1 State University. We tried to problematize the memory about the city and the way it was 0́−translated0́+ into his writing. What position did Lira choose in the face of the changes experienced in the city? We intertwined his speech with that of other subjects who, like him, published their opinions about the city in the local newspaper. What are the metaphors used about the city? What are Sobral's differentiation mechanisms? In addition, it is relevant to understand Lira's definition of sobralense, which also reveals the uses that people made of that made reference to a past elected as glorious. In Padre Lira's work, we can also point out a pedagogical need that was closely related to the defense of that past. Therefore, there was also a more peculiar intention that included the sensitivity of fellow citizens, in an attempt to sharpen their senses to more abstract issues of love for the past, allowing a strengthening of ties with their homeland. For our study it was important to analyze the social subject, through Padre Lira's life trajectory. The 0́−writing of the self0́+ is not dissociated from his memorial project about the city and the illustrious Sobralenses, which allowed him to be inserted in several intellectual institutions. To carry out the study, we used as sources his books and texts published in the column Nossa HistoÌ1ria of the newspaper Correio da Semana (1970-1982), in addition to other articles from the same periodical and urban reports by Sobral.