The orature in Angolan short stories: The case of A árvore dos gingongos, Ynari, A menina das cinco tranças and Kianda off-shore

Abstract

Since the ancient times, orature, a denomination proposed by Piu Zimiro, is a cultural manifestation present in any society. Having always served as source for several literary works, it has a close connection with literature for millennia. This research aims to analyze the influence that it has on the Angolan Literature, especially on the short stories. Thus, we took into consideration a theoretical framework related to orature and short story, in the perspective of the first and also in the perspective of literature, without excluding essential milestones of the “History of Angolan Short Story”. Three Angolan Literature short stories are the object of study. They are: A árvore dos gingongos (1993) written by Maria Celestina Fernandes, Ynari, A menina das cinco tranças (2004) written by Ondjaki and Kianda off-shore, that is part of the literary work Luanda fica longe (2016) written by José Luis Mendonça. The three short stories, written in three different moments of the History of Angola, get nearer to this enriching and pivotal feature of the Angolan Literature, which is the continuous dialogue with orature. Presenting relevant aspects of the Angolan culture, severe social criticism and a cord that connects all of them, the three short stories allow the dialogism through orature, which gives them referents and themes. One of the referents is, undoubtedly, Kianda. We verified the transtextual recurrence related to the texts of the Angolan orature, following the line of Genette structuralist thought. Briefly, the textual transcendence was verified in different levels: paratextual, intertextual, hypertextual, architextual and also metatextual. In this context of inclusion of the traditional in the contemporary, it is possible to find the reverse, in a transcultural base. From the mutual fruitfulness relation, the affirmation of the pluridiscursivity comes as a continuous strength in the contemporary Angolan narrative.