RELAÇÕES ENTRE ESCOMBROS EM CONTOS DE ALCIENE RIBEIRO LEITE

Abstract

In this study, we analyze the compositional horizon of the writer Alciene Ribeiro Leite through the examination of some stories from her first book, Eu choro do palhaço (Leite, 1978), which includes the narratives “Nem Gilda, nem Gildinha,” “Traduzem-se best-sellers,” “Vinte anos de Amélia,” “Natal crucificado,” “Pássaro sem asas,” and “Eu Choro do Palhaço.” Additionally, we analyze stories from the book brazil 2020 (Leite, 2020): “Emparedada” and “Arca de Noé.” When examining the alcienian stories, we find plots featuring characters in degrading situations, immersed in loneliness, abandonment, harassment, censorship, and violence. Consequently, we hypothesize that these stories may depict a universe in ruins. We understand these ruins as connected to torture, censorship, and authoritarianism, in contexts marked by violence, exposure to loneliness in personal and social spheres, and the nullification of the self in favor of societal-imposed desires. To discuss this theme, we draw on scholars of literature and philosophy such as Antonio Candido (2000), Benedito Nunes (1995), Mikhail Bakhtin (2003), Silviano Santiago (2002), Sandra Nitrini (2010), Gérard Genette (1972), Leyla Perrone-Moisés, Massaud Moisés (2012), Nádia Battella Gotlib (2006), Cabrera Infante (2001), Theodor Adorno (1951-1970), Edgar Allan Poe (2011), Julio Cortázar (2011), Hannah Arendt (2007-2021), Martin Heidegger (1999), Walter Benjamin (1987), and Michael Löwy (2005). The research on the writer highlights the importance of literature in the historical context, analyzing stories created during periods of crisis, such as the Military Dictatorship and the COVID-19 pandemic, and demonstrating how these experiences shape the authors’ subjectivities, reinforcing literature as a critique of social realities and a form of resistance.

Keywords: Contemporary Brazilian Literature; Short Stories; Authoritarianism; Brazilian Military Dictatorship; Aesthetics.