Fernanda de Castro: em qual lugar da memória?

Abstract

This dissertation aims to demonstrate how the vast and multifaceted work of Portuguese writer Fernanda de Castro (1900-1994), with a strong autofictional and memoiristic nature, recorded the experiences of someone who had a privileged view of the complex interactions between identity, culture and politics in Portugal in the early 20th century. Crossed by issues of her mixed-race and aristocratic origins, even before becoming the wife of the director of the Secretariado de Propaganda Nacional (SPN; National Secretariado de Informação, Cultura Popular e Turismo - SNI from 1944), the writer António Ferro (1985-1956), Fernanda already challenged the rules of patriarchal society by employing, in her verses, eroticism as a tool for artistic expression of her desires, including for other women. To support our analysis, we will address the concept of memory framing discussed by Michael Pollak, as well as the structural, racial and social conceptions of colonization defined by Grada Kilomba and Frantz Fanon. Seeking to highlight the prolific and diverse nature of Fernanda de Castro's production, we opted for a corpus composed of fictional narratives, anthologies of poems and memorial works. The choice of works that make up this selection is closely related to the subjects discussed in the research: the poems in Antemanhã (1919) highlight important initial milestones constantly revisited by the author; Mariazinha em África (1925), As Aventuras de Mariazinha (1929) and Maria da Lua (1945) address issues of belonging, race and colonization related to the context of childhood; while the long poem África Raiz (1966), the two volumes of Ao Fim da Memória (1986-1978) and 70 Anos de Poesia (1989) reveal how these themes appear in maturity. Due to her professional activity and social position, Fernanda de Castro witnessed, in a unique way, the artistic, social and political transformations of the 20th century