Estranhamento e familiaridade em O Reino, de Gonçalo M. Tavares: uma investigação sobre a maldade

Abstract

This dissertation consists of the study of the tetralogy The Kingdom, also known as Black Books, by the Portuguese writer Gonçalo M. Tavares. It includes the novels A Man: Klaus Klump, Joseph Walser’s Machine, Jerusalem and Learning to Pray in the Age of Technique. Although recently written and therefore considered contemporary texts, these narratives build worlds that operate a displacement in relation to the present time, without concerning to date or to geographically locate these narratives. Through the reading of the tetralogy as well as critical-theoretical titles that help to understand the issues addressed by these study, it seeks to reflect on questions whose themes focus on the human condition in face of several expressions of barbarism, the technical improvement, insanity and the body as a privileged space for the exercise of power. Therefore it is necessary to emphasize the feelings of strangeness and familiarity provoked by these narratives, understanding the author's literary project as an investigative process that intends to advance through doubts, without delivering ready answers. Thus, this research is one possibility among many.