Abstract
The reader uses their own imaginary to construct the scenes that they read in a dramatic text. Thus, in immediate contact with the material, the reader organises the action based on their own imagisitic frame of reference. In contemporary texts — especially those which directly dialogue with the new forms of the scene, with their hybridization between the differing artistic forms — the requirement of some knowledge about this scene comes to the fore; the dramatic text is written with the intention of being staged in its contemporaneity. The same happens with olden dramatic texts as they also dialogue with the forms of representation at the time of their writing. It is especially important to take this relationship into account when dealing with texts which were written with the concrete objective of being staged. The condition of being written for the stage does not, in turn, exempt the author of these texts from a literary commitment; rather it brings both under the same aegis. When we, as 21st century readers, come across dramatic texts in general, we tend to read them primarily based on our notions of what theatre is today. We know that our imagination is impregnated with our own time-space and it subconsciously presents the most diverse influences. However, with regard to the treatment of texts that are very old or based on precepts far removed from those known by the reader, this asymmetrical relationship may impair the appreciation of the work. A committed reading of texts, dramatic or not, must consider the context of their production, be it historical-cultural or scenic-literary. This condition of reading will allow the reader to understand the intricacies of the scenic play proposed by the playwright and will complement the imaginative aspect of the act of reading. For purposes of analysis, we will take as a basis the mythological works of the eighteenth-century Portuguese playwright Antônio José da Silva as a subject for the development of the discussion that follows.

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