Revista sobre literatura; literatura portuguesa; fábulas; contos; poesia
Myth in fiction: around A cidade de Ulisses
This article presents an analysis of the novel A cidade de Ulisses, by Teolinda Gersão (2017), aiming to understand how recent Portuguese fiction has revisited both past and current history through its founding myths. It examines how the reconfiguration of the myth of Ulysses is carried out in this narrative authored by a woman, presupposing that such revisitation becomes an opportunity to, on the one hand, highlight a discussion around the woes caused by colonization and its ramifications (Real, 2012), and on the other hand, to address the condition of women. In order to trace the myth’s traces and ascertain its update in relation to what was described, it first undertakes a theoretical journey around the definition of myth, as proposed by Eliade (2000) and Pimentel (2008). Secondly, as in Teolinda Gersão’s narrative, the myth is reconfigured within the city space where personal and collective memories intertwine, bringing into discussion issues related to geographical and symbolic space, as well as memory, identity, and power, according to authors such as Candau (2021), Febvre (2009), and Foucault (2007).
Copyright (c) 2025 Alleid Ribeiro Machado
The figure of Job as a literary motif. The desire for meaning in the face of suffering
It is well known that the biblical character of Job has inspired thinkers and artists throughout the ages, so that in the history of Western culture his figure has appeared in numerous pain- tings, sculptures and musical compositions, as well as novels and poems. By examining the formal and thematic similarities and divergences in some literary recreations of the story of Job, I intend to argue that this character has given rise to a literary motif, that is, to the ver- bal representation of a typical situation that is repeated, a stereotypical situation like that of other literary motifs identified in comparative literature such as ‘impossible love’ (represen- ted for example in Romeo and Juliet) or ‘unjust banishment’ (embodied, among others, by El Cid). In order to characterise the literary motif of Job, it will be necessary to analyse which elements of the biblical story survive in the works inspired by it and which transformations it has undergone as it has been adapted to different times and worldviews. Is the desire for a rational explanation of suffering a characteristic element of this literary motif? Does the out- come of the biblical story itself provide an explanation for pain? What about Voltaire’s philo- sophical novel Zadig (1747), Joseph Roth’s short novel Job. The Story of a Simple Man (1930) or Carlos Pujol’s collection of poems Fragmentos del Libro de Job (1998)?
Argumentative movements of emotions in political speeches
Emotion, as a form of argumentation, has always been a constitutive element of speeches, appearing already in Aristotle’s Rhetoric. Whether the emotions are real (emotional commu- nication) or have discursive purposes (emotive communication) (Plantin, 2000), the Speaker summons them into his speech, using different modes of semiotization. The use of emotions is a way of acting on the addressee, persuading him in favor of a certain idea or capturing his pietas. It is, therefore, a discursive technique with the potential to change the disposition of the audience, converging to increase the effectiveness of an argument. At the verbal level, emotions can be expressed, explicitly or implicitly, or constructed (“visée”, in the terminology of Kerbrat-Orechhioni, 2000), resorting to emotion terms or other descriptive terms, which are conventionally associated with an emotion. In addition to these, rhetorical figures are often used, such as metaphor or hyperbole, which enhance a scene that induces a state of mind that favors persuasion (Micheli, 2010). Although they are sometimes seen as an ornamental form, they constitute argumentative tools, as they allow to present reasoning in a forceful way (Reboul, 2004). Based on a corpus of political interventions made by senior State representatives, the verbal material will be analysed, in particular the “words of emotion” and the rhetorical figu- res that contribute to the pathos of suffering and (in)justice. We will try to demonstrate that these elements integrate argumentative movements in favor of reasoning and aligned with the purpose of the text producer to make the other agree, absolutely, with his point of view (Charaudeau, 2016).
Copyright (c) 2024 Sara Topete de Oliveira Pita
The reception of Job in the earliest greek literature
Due to his blunt skepticism and an impatience that borders on irreverence, the Job portrayed by the Old Testament Masoretic Text is one of the most philosophically and theologically chal- lenging figures of the Bible. The original Septuagint translator of Job provided a startlingly loose translation which took the first step in rendering the message of the book less theolo- gically problematic. However, the leap in reception from Septuagint Job to the exemplary Job of late-ancient and early medieval Christianity is still dramatic and noteworthy. This article traces the reception of Job in the Greek language from the Septuagint through the earliest Christian-era texts. It also compares the Job in these texts with that of the Testament of Job, a text whose relationship to Christianity is complicated. It will show that the patristic recep- tion of Job, much like that of the Testament of Job, had already progressed a great deal toward a typology that would lead to a Christian reading of the story of Job as a holy man, a saint, and a prefiguration or type of Christ himself.
Christian Reception of the Old Testament
Job, fair misfortune, and the interpretation of suffering by friends. Eliphaz’s speeches
The history of Job, known as history of unhappy upright, is part of the books of the holy Bible in Old Testament, whose writer is unknown as many other writers in the books of the Bible, being also, according to scholars of the Bible, known as part a “Sapient Literature” and a mas- terpiece of the wisdom movement. The book of Job and its personages lead us in thinking about the human experience in its whole, beginning with a higher conception of God and conside- rations about men, Satan, justice, redemption and resurrection by one hand; and invite us in another hand in analysing the problematical suffering of an upright man. This article intends to interpret the speeches of Eliphaz, one of Job console-friends, so his standing position on the suffering of his friend. The speeches of Job in Eliphaz view point as right to answer. We seek to an approach to the interpretation to the suffering in Eliphaz view point on regard to be the first personage to whom the narrator gives the word after Job been handed over to Satan by God`s will. We search in Eliphaz`s speeches the raised questions on Job sufferings of Job, questions we sought been present in our time: The innocent may or may not suffer? Why the upright undergoing afflictions? The human experience and God’s or Satan involvement in the human suffer. To answer these questions and others that may emerge alongside the work, we will have as support texts, beyond Job’s book others scientific texts and biblical that approach God`s intervention in suffering of men in a view point exclusively literary.
Copyright (c) 2024 Michel Mutaia Kanianga
The curious case of a discredited scribe (A.1258+): slander and suffering in 18th century BC Mesopotamia
This paper aims to offer a translation and detailed analysis of the letter-psalm A.1258+, exhumed in the royal palace of Mari and dated from the 18th century BC. The text in question corresponds to a supplication addressed by a scribe to the sovereign Zimrî-Lîm and presents parallels with the famous Babylonian composition lulul bēl nēmeqi (The Righteous Sufferer), which, in turn, due to the themes addressed, was equated with the Book of Job. Thus, we intend to debate, through an interpretation of the text, questions such as the role of the sovereign, suffering and justice.
Copyright (c) 2024 Maria de Fátima Rosa
Job. The Adventure of Suffering: Pain and Faith as Anthropological Characteristics – A Philosophical Reading
Perhaps one of the most basic existential questions a person of faith must wrestle with is why bad things happen to good people. Perhaps therein lies the key question of every human being that places it in the topos of limit situations. The book of Job is a story that is part of that type of existential experience. Job is a righteous man who responds faithfully to difficult trials that God imposes on him to test his faith. Job’s experience calls us to reflect on those questions that call us to recognize the causes of suffe- ring, anthropological fragility and the reasons to trust in God, beyond the moment when life seems unfair to us.
Copyright (c) 2024 María Cecilia Colombani
Job and the Comedy of Suffering in A Serious Man (2009), by the Coen Brothers
The movie A Serious Man (2009), by Joel and Ethan Coen, can be interpreted as an ingenious and irreverent parody of the Book of Job. In the light of exoliterary intertextuality and comparative studies, my objective is to establish similarities, differences and relations between the Biblical parable and this movie. I will analyze the categories of time and space, the protagonist, the main events, and the message. To do so, I resort to interviews granted by the Coen brothers, to essays written by cinephiles and theologists and to intertextuality theory.
Job and Adélia Prado: narrative voices and reception
This article begins by recognizing that the narrative voice present in the prose segments at the opening and end of the book of Job (chapters 1, 2 and 42.7-17) guides the reader in understan- ding the large poetic block of the book (chapters 3 to 42.6). The next step is to build a compa- rative analysis with Adélia Prado’s poem: Story of Job, identifying the presence of quotations and appropriations of the poetic block of the biblical book. Finally, it explores the hypothesis that this procedure, by eliminating the original narrator, allows for the introduction of a new narrative voice and the construction of new meanings.
Dramatic representations of Job: from the biblical-theological matrix to some literary variations
In this text with a theoretical and analytical focus, it will be pertinent to develop a reflection in two complementary moments. Firstly, in the context of the fruitful relationship between the biblical-religious tradition and the literary tradition (literary theology), it is worth rethinking the genesis of the representation of the figure of Job – the symbolic profile and major charac- teristics of this mythographic construction. Secondly, based on theological studies and their hermeneutics of the biblical discourse on Job, it is pertinent to systematise some of the dominant features present in various literary interpretations at different times in Portuguese literature, from Classicism and Mannerism to contemporary poetry, in a plural and evolving reception.
Copyright (c) 2024 José Cândido de Oliveira Martins
Dom Pedro, Count of Barcelos, between the Book of Job and Ecclesiastes
In a poem that is part of his brief songbook, Dom Pedro, Count of Barcelos, makes an enigma- tic reflection on life, death and, above all, the divine power, which has aroused little attention from critics, and its understanding is far from satisfactory. We refer to the song «Nom quer'a Deus por mia morte rogar», whose rereading we propose to carry out in this article, taking into account the intellectual environment of the time, characterized by a marked naturalistic and Aristotelian drift. In this context, the commentaries that focused on the Book of Job and Ecclesiastes, giving priority to the latter, are particularly relevant.
Copyright (c) 2024 José Carlos Ribeiro Miranda
Semantic levels of justice in the book of Job
The book of Job is a very unique and original case in the Bible; it is also a very representative example of the incidences of humanism and a kind of philosophical investment specific to the cultures of pre-classical Near East. In it, we are faced with an enormous attempt to resolve a feeling of aporia that dramatically affects the concept of justice and the human being, in the deep frontier of conflict that reveals itself between ethics and theodicy. The result is a feeling of loneliness and emptiness on the horizon of human action, an emptiness that sounds absurd, a concept epistemologically unbearable for them. Through an analysis in successive states of dilemma about the existential conditioning of justice, the discussion unfolds in the gender of a true forensic citation in which God is the accused, and proceeds through multiple opposing deconstructions. The way of resolution consists on the dynamisms of a transcendental aesthe- tic emotion, converging towards an ending that is one of reconstruction, in order to recieve in a somehow ingenuous manner the life conditions of the beginning.
Mourning, suffering and family loyalty in the mythical-literary cycle of Inanna and Dumuzi
The mythical-literary cycle known as Inanna and Dumuzi includes a series of compositions writ- ten in the Sumerian language that focus on the relationship between these two deities, from the enthusiastic process of falling in love to the dramatic events surrounding Dumuzi’s death. Regarding the latter, perhaps the most famous episode is the one narrated in the composition known as Inanna’s Descent to the nether world, where, at certain point, the goddess decrees the death of her lover. Although less well known, other episodes in this cycle are very interesting in terms of one’s expected behaviour when faced with the loss of a loved one. This essay revi- sits these compositions with the aim of analysing the archetypal action of their central cha- racters, in what concerns mourning and suffering, to highlight the ideals of family loyalty and fidelity inherent to them.
Copyright (c) 2024 Isabel Gomes de Almeida
“Who, being innocent, ever perished?” (Job 4,7): the book of Job and the doctrine of retribution
The book of Job can only be understood against the background of the so-called doctrine of retribution: “he who does good, meets good”, and “evil harms”. This doctrine sought not only to encourage doing good and leaving evil, but also served as an explanatory mechanism: good things are due to good actions, while bad consequences must have been caused by bad actions. Old Testament authors often invoked this doctrine in an attempt to explain the dire situations Israel found itself in throughout history. Even if, in many cases, the notion of retri- bution seems to be a useful concept to explain calamity and suffering, when evil strikes good people, one hits its limit. Not surprisingly, several Bible texts are critical of the doctrine of retribution and the supposed idea of justice on which it is based. The book of Job is perhaps the best example of this.
The book of Job: one of the paradigms of Mon Cas
The play O meu caso (1957), by José Régio, was the theme for the film Mon cas (1986), by Portu- guese director Manoel de Oliveira. Starting from the argument proposed by the Regian play, Manoel de Oliveira creates the argument for his film by adding elements collected in Pour en finir et autres foirades, by Samuel Beckett, a text published in English, by Still English Publhisher, in 1970, and in French by Éditions of Minuit, in 1975, and in the Book of Job, inscribed in the Old Testament. This study intends to take a look at the first two texts, that is, the Portuguese play and the Beckettian narrative, to focus on the biblical text, in order to seek the paths that led the Portuguese director to draw a parallel that obviously has its genesis in the concept of suffering, among the discourses listed.
Copyright (c) 2024 Flavia Maria Corradin
The biblical tradition of Job in Spanish Baroque Comedy
The story of Job was collected, like other biblical narratives, by Baroque playwrights who were fond of bringing moralising and religious examples to the stage. Although, according to biblio- graphical tradition, there were many comedies that dealt with this story, only one of certain authorship is known to have survived to the present day: Los trabajos de Job (The Labours of Job) by Felipe Godínez. The parallels of this comedy with the biblical story show the respect that the playwright demonstrated for the text and the Tridentine doctrine, but also reflect the adver- sities he had to endure, unjustly accused before the Inquisition, for which he was prosecuted. The life and work of Job are a parallel in which he is an example in the face of misfortune.
Copyright (c) 2024 Elena Martínez Carro
Poetry as a Kenotic Exercise in “The Days of Job” by José Tolentino Mendonça
This article examines how José Tolentino Mendonça's poem 'The Days of Job' reflects a kenotic spiritual exercise, explored from different angles, namely theology, literature and philosophy, to address human vulnerability and dignity. In this sense, the text explores the poetic and political dimensions of spirituality from the intersection between the theoretical references of Michel Foucault, Michel de Certeau and Giorgio Agamben. In Tolentino's poetics, Job is interpreted as an emblematic figure who transcends his biblical dimension and emerges as a metaphor for creative resilience and ethical struggle in times of crisis. Poetry is presented as an anagogic way of rediscovering the indelible beauty of life even in the most adverse circumstances, promo- ting a spirituality that resists the logic of discard and reinvents ways of inhabiting the world.
Illness, suffering and divine action in Ludlul bēl nēmeqi: the topos of the Righteous Sufferer in ancient Mesopotamia
Since the end of the 3rd millennium BCE, numerous Mesopotamian wisdom texts have been known which focus on the literary topos of the Righteous Sufferer, such as the famous Babylo- nian poem Ludlul bēl nēmeqi. These compositions generally narrate the story of an individual who sees their fate crumbling due to the accumulation of misfortunes, and therefore appeals to the deities, begging for the restitution of his happiness and well-being. In this context, and although not always explicitly mentioned, the manifestation of illness as one of the many dis- graces that befall the sufferer is an unavoidable feature of these narratives. In this sense, and considering that, according to Mesopotamian religious thought, any unfa- vourable event was seen as a sign of abandonment and/or divine punishment, this type of nar- rative presupposes the existence of a sufferer who claims to be innocent in their behaviour. Thus, by confessing an unconsciousness/unawareness of the offense committed that caused the deities to respond so implacably, the individual becomes a prime example of the extent of divine whims and injustice in the affairs and destinies of Humanity. This paper therefore proposes to explore this complex relationship between illness, human suffering, and divine justice, in Ludlul bēl nēmeqi, with comparative references to other Meso- potamian texts to contextualize this theme. Through an analysis of the motifs and theological implications present in Ludlul bēl nēmeqi, this paper will seek to determine to what extent the notion of an innocent sufferer is truly in the literature and, ultimately, in the mental fra- mework of these populations of ancient Mesopotamia.
Copyright (c) 2024 Ana Satiro, Isabel Gomes de Almeida
Qiu Jin: the poetics of revolt of a Chinese Antigone?
Qiu Jin 秋瑾 (1875-1907) was a Chinese revolutionary poet and feminist. Beheaded after a failed attempt to overthrow the imperial power of the Qing, she is now considered a national martyr, having sacrificed her life for the freedom of the Chinese people and for equality between men and women. This article examines the poetics of revolt in Qiu Jin’s work by comparing it to the figure of Antigone, both heroines sacrificing their lives to protest against tyrannical power. Like Antigone, Qiu Jin adopts an ambivalent position within the family structure, abandoning husband and children while defending filial piety and sisterhood, and seeks to redefine the place of women in Chinese society. Although she dips her pen into the oppression of the Chinese people by condemning the Qing dynasty and the Western powers, Qiu Jin’s poetics of revolt is not confined to a descriptive function: it has a performative function, aiming to unify the nation while working towards the emancipation of women. This poetics draws on baihua, the Chinese vernacular, while appropriating literary forms traditionally associated with women, such as tanci, and defining new female models. Handling both pen and sword, Qiu Jin projects herself as a modern nüxia, while following in the footsteps of legendary heroines she has met through her reading. Nevertheless, it seems that the poetic ethos that Qiu Jin forges for herself influences her own destiny by taking on a programmatic function. This article sheds new light on Qiu Jin’s poetics, showing that the poetess is gradually invaded by the sacrificial ethos she has constructed in her poems.
Antigone’s Contests: Pasts and Presents in Scholarship and Performance, ancient and modern
In modern times, the figure of Antigone has become an emblem in the struggle for liberty from oppression. It provides a fitting focus for a conference that celebrates the 50th anniversary of the carnation revolution in Portugal. This paper starts by identifying and analysing some of the contexts and performance styles in which contemporary concerns have shaped interpretation, translation, adaptation and performance of Sophocles’ text. The main part of the discussion then poses the question of whether ‘present’ concerns have appropriated the play in ways that marginalise or even excise some aspects of Sophocles’ text. ‘Presentism’ has often been used by classicists as a term of disapprobation in order to criticise subsequent receptions of ancient texts, sometimes with the implication that there is a fixed meaning to be discovered if the ancient text is considered philologically and in terms of the context of its composition and performance, and that ‘presentist’ interpretations subvert this. The paper then argues that: (i) there is a variety of ‘presentist’ perspectives. Some are inevitable in scholarly work as well as in the creative processes attached to performance and spectating. The ‘present’ (any present) is one node in a network of mediations and receptions. The concerns, life experiences and cultural and ethical hinterlands of the practitioners and scholars working with Sophocles’ Antigone inevitably have a shaping role in their agency because their life experiences and socio-cultural orientations are not confined to those of ancient Greece. The same is true of readers and spectators who, wittingly or unwittingly, relate the play to their own ‘present’. These ‘present’ concerns can generate a positive engagement with the ancient text and context. They only become negative if they are unacknowledged and if they close down meaning. (ii) Philological and performative analysis of Sophocles’ play demonstrates that the tragedian himself was engaged in a form of ‘presentist’ activity. The narratives associated with Antigone and her family were adapted and augmented through a lens that reflected the social, religious and political urgencies of fifth-century Athens, especially the contested relationships between funerary traditions and social cohesion and the transfer of power from aristocratic families to the polis. The concluding section of the paper argues that analysis of the relationship between ancient and modern ‘presentisms’ enhances both scholarly commentary and critique of tragedy in performance. Sophocles’ play provides a site of temporal and metaphorical space that promotes and provokes engagement between ancient and modern, to the benefit of both.
The Tropes of the Dictator in José Watanabe’s Dramatic Work “Antígona”
This paper focuses on studying the images and tropes of the dictator that appear in the Greek tragedy Antigone by Sophocles, as seen through its reinterpretations, particularly that of José Watanabe. In the original play, animals are used symbolically and metaphorically to explore key themes such as justice and law, as well as to illustrate Antigone’s moral conflict. For example, the chorus compares Antigone to a bird that defies the orders of the dictator Creon in the name of her brother, reflecting her bravery and her defiance of human laws in favor of divine ones. This issue gains significance in Latin American reinterpretations, where the connection between animals and the figure of the dictator is intensified. Some adaptations portray dictators as predatory beasts that threaten the freedom and dignity of the people, using animal imagery as an allegorical tool to criticize authoritarian regimes. This association between animals and the dictator enables a powerful critique of oppression and abuse of power while highlighting the struggle of individuals for justice and freedom, in alignment with Antigone’s character in the original play. In summary, this study will explore how the representation of animals in Antigone guides us through the depiction of dictators in Latin American reinterpretations, offering a rich and meaningful metaphor for analyzing issues of power, justice, and resistance in different cultural contexts. Animals, whether as symbols of bravery or representations of dictatorial oppression, enrich dramatic literature and allow for a critical reflection on the nature of power and the struggle for freedom in both ancient and contemporary settings.
Creón, Creón. The dystopian Antigone by Rodríguez Pampín
In the 1950s, Galician literature began to show signs of recovery after having practically disappeared during the Spanish Civil War (1936-39). The efforts of the Galaxia publishing house, founded in 1950 by a group of Galician anti-Francoists, to translate texts from the European avant-garde and the Ribadavia Theatre Exhibitions encouraged the creation of dramatic texts by authors who had not previously cultivated the genre. This is the case of Rodríguez Pampín, who in 1975 published his first play, Creón, Creón, a futurist rewriting of Antígona, which we will analyse in this paper.
Copyright (c) 2025 María Teresa Amado Rodríguez
There Are many Ways to Die. Antigone: A Rereading of the Myth in an Anthropological Key. Power, Resistance, and Pain
In this paper we will analyze Antigone, the Sophoclean tragedy, from certain anthropological coordinates present in the tragediographer’s work. In a first segment we will go through the structure of the myth as an operator of meaning. In a second segment we will work on the meaning of the presence of a myth in the framework of the anthropological scenario. In a third one, we will approach Sophocles’ play in order to highlight its content, the dramatic aspect of the piece, its theatrical play, the role of the characters and their insertion in the framework of their historical time and their trans-temporality.
Aaliyah: Antigone the voice for British South Asian Muslim Communities
As with most Greek tragedies, the appeal of these ancient texts is their ability to continually talk to our sense of humanity and ask ‘what would you do?’. They specifically lend themselves well as case studies to civic discussions; therefore, it is not surprising that during a number of key moments in British history, we see revivals of certain plays. Sophocles’ Antigone is such a production which has had a lengthy performance history in Britain, however, with the introduction of Anouilh’s (1949) and Brecht’s adaptations (1967) to the London theatre scene we see Antigone subsequently used as a vehicle for politically charged discussions surrounding current affairs, in particular anti-war messaging and criticism of government policy. While Britain has been multicultural for a lot longer than some would like to accept, the demographic producing and creating adaptations of Greek tragedy were, and in many ways continue to be, predominantly white British, and rarely reflect the diversity within British society. However, there are a number of playwrights and authors outside of this cohort who are utilising the plays and mythologies of the Greco-Roman world to vocalise their lived experiences within the UK. This is seen notably in adaptations of Sophocles’ Antigone since 2017. This paper will focus on how the tragedy of Antigone has been utilised to discuss the moral dilemmas that multicultural Britain faces, particularly from the perspective of British-Pakistani and British-Bengali Muslims. It will explore how the success of Kamila Shamsie’s novel Home Fire (2017) opened the door for new interpretations leading to the productions of Aaliyah (After Antigone) in 2021 and Inua Ellams’ Antigone in 2022. The core of this paper will discuss how these adaptations use the tragedy to explore the question of what it means to be a British Muslim today.
Celebrating the Carnation Revolution under the sign of Antigone
Transformed into a symbol of resistance and the fight for freedom against all forms of oppression, the myth of Antigone was significantly chosen to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the "Carnation Revolution" (April 25, 1974), an event that marked the end of almost half a century of dictatorial power in Portugal, supported by mechanisms of repression, political persecution, and censorship.
Antigone and the social weight of ritual. A contemporary staging
The burial rite of Antigone at the beginning of the tragedy of Sophocles raises a series of interpretative problems that affect both the act itself and the social weight of the denied rite. In fact, it is undeniable that the confrontation between Antigone and Creon is marked by various political, social and religious aspects; it is equally undeniable that the burial rite was perceived as a fundamental step to “let go” of the dead into the afterlife. And precisely this rite marks a border that is at once political, religious and cultural, capable of unleashing the wrath of Creon and the piety of Antigone. The rite by Antigone recomposes the fracture between the living and the dead, and among the living, recomposes justice. Thus, the rite draws the line between the just and the unjust, between the decision in your own name or in the name of the collective, between the living and the dead. The limit, however, although firm, in the case of Sophocles strives to maintain its contours, remains blurred to the eye and, although strongly marked by the rite (fulfilled or not), turns out to be labile. To understand the ritual of the gesture of Antigone in the contemporary scene we will analyze the Antigone with the direction of I. Papas of 2005 in the Greek theater of Syracuse.
The Struggle for Women in firminia Literature
The role of women in society has always been undermined by patriarchal power, so that men do not lose their supremacy in dictating social rules. Lélia González (2020) emphasizes that Latin American women have been subjected to male power for a long time, but when they realize that they are the protagonists of their history, they raise their voices (hooks, 2019) and echo the liberating scream. From this point on, we will analyze the novel Úrsula (1859), by Maria Firmina dos Reis, to understand the importance of female characters in the process of liberation of women in XIX century Brazil. Because Ursula, Luísa B., mother of Tancredo, mother of Túlio, Preta Susana and Adelaide, are different from the standards of the time, because they are not just representing the social roles of daughter, wife and mother. Therefore, our research follows a literary-sociological line, since they are closely related, especially when it comes to a narrative set in the colonial period, in which female roles were imposed and were no more than a framework for engendering their identities.
Copyright (c) 2025 Paulo Bogéa, Algemira de Macêdo Mendes
A double-edged sword: the question of power in the dramatic work of Abdulai Sila
One of the central aspects of the myth of Antigone revolves around the question of who holds power and how it is used. This problem urgently manifests itself in the current situation in Guinea-Bissau, a country that has experienced a succession of 17 presidents and 32 prime ministers since its independence in 1974, along with at least six coups and counter-coups, to sum up, political instability mainly driven by personal vanity. It is well known that political power, despite not being inherently negative, carries the risk of becoming autonomous, inevitably seducing its holders to use it unscrupulously for purely private economic gain. In the first three plays of Guinean author Abdulai Sila, As orações de Mansata (2007), Dois tiros e uma gargalhada (2013), and Kangalutas (2018) the acquisition and use of power are crucial issues, demonstrating that the specific historical situation of Guinea-Bissau is perceived as the greatest problem of contemporary society. When it comes to ruling and enriching oneself, almost everyone ends up betraying the revolutionary ideals of the past. Thus, both As orações de Mansata and Dois tiros e uma gargalhada depict scoundrels fighting and slaughtering one another to gain power. Fortunately, in both plays, these (self-)destructive tendencies are counterbalanced by a pronounced pragmatism that transcends political partisanship and ideological biases, a constellation that repeats itself with exclusively female protagonists and similar outcomes in Kangalutas. Sila recognises the issues of power abuse and acknowledges that the mechanisms governing this process are, on the one hand, human; however, on the other, they are not unavoidable. The three plays highlight the appropriate strategies for eschewing this deleterious effect, showcasing individuals who know how to resist the seductions of power. The wise elders, with their ancestral knowledge, and the younger generation, with their faith in a better future, can come together to overcome the immense problems that currently plague Guinean reality
About the hunt and the hunter: from Machado de Assis to Sérgio Bianchi
The paper analyses Machado de Assis’s short story “Pai contra mãe” and reflects on the vision of the slave world that serves as its context, also interrogating the way in which freedom and its limits are represented in the text. Secondly, it briefly studies the free adaptation of the narrative made by Sérgio Bianchi in 2005 in the film Quanto vale ou é por quilo?.
Realpolitik: A Political Reading of Alexander Zeldin’s The Inequalities Trilogy
In The Inequalities, Alexander Zeldin shows how injustice, the result of a violent process of capitalist exploitation, arrogantly governs the lives of those struggling to survive in England over the past decade: a dehumanizing dystopia carried out by the Conservative Party. Obliterated by labor, economic, social, political, and ontological precarity, the starving day laborers find, in Zeldin’s theatre, an opportunity to forge a communal voice of resistance — which is to say, a voice of political awakening. Zeldin, however, rejects this adjective; he feels it as a label from which he tries to free his theatre, because in his view, Beyond Caring, LOVE, and Faith, Hope and Charity stage heroes and heroines, not ideas or ideologically driven programs. In this paper, I will attempt to understand and question the reasons underlying Zeldin’s resistance. Alexander Zeldin is a playwright/ theater maker I consider deeply political.