Infâncias em situação-limite na literatura brasileira contemporânea: representações em perspectiva

Abstract

This research proposes a study on the representation of children in limit situation in contemporary Brazilian literature. The investigation commences with a brief tour of childhood’s constructed images throughout Brazilian literary historiography, from the 19th century to contemporaneity, approaching, through a critical and interpretative analysis, the representation of children who occupy the central position of narratives, as well as those who appear in the margins. From this path, I have raised the hypothesis of a legacy of fracturing themes in childhood that runs through all of our literature, reaching contemporary writers. In the following chapters, I examine the displacement of child protagonists in migrating situations, refuge, exile and uprooting in the works Amal: e a viagem mais importante da sua vida (2019), by Carolina Montenegro; A menina que abraça o vento (2019), by Fernanda Paraguassu; Dois meninos de Kakuma (2018), by Marie Ange Bordas; O cometa é um sol que não deu certo (2017), by Tadeu Sarmento; and O beijo na parede (2013), by Jeferson Tenório, emphasizing the authors’ ethical, aesthetic and political commitment to the responsible reworking of traumatic stories that they haven’t experienced. I also observe that, despite the adversities inherent to the circumstances of narratives, a characteristic atmosphere of the children’s universe is preserved in all the works analyzed in this study. Thus, I seek to reflect on the presence of an aesthetic configured by the poetics of childhood, in addition to also investigating the fabulation of child protagonists in difficult situations; the construction of a responsible literature practice; the fictionalization as a way of mobilizing the reader’s affection; and, finally, the dialogue between literature and social reality. In this investigative path, I have counted on the theoretical contribution of several authors. Among them, I mention ANDRUETTO (2017), LAJOLO (2016) and MATA (2015), to think of childhood and its poetics in literature; ALCOFF (1991), DALCASTAGNÈ (2011; 2012), GINZBURG (2017; 2022), MATA (2011), MORRISON (2019) and NATALI (2020), who has helped me develop a critical look to discuss the relationship among otherness, representation, and responsibilty in the literary field; and CANDIDO (1970), DINIZ (2017), FERES (2023) and JOUVE (2002) to reflect on the affective dimension of literature