Entre literatura e história : questões de representação em Mongólia e O filho da mãe, de Bernardo Carvalho

Abstract

This study aims to verify, through comparative literature, how the relation between Literature and History is shaped in the novels Mongólia (2003) and O filho da mãe (2009), written by Bernardo Carvalho, as well as the problems of representation that result from this relation. The relevance of the research is due to the experiences that these narratives provide to the Brazilian reader, since these texts deal with geographical and cultural realities that are different from the reader’s and that, otherwise, might not arrive their hands. The theoretical assumptions are based, principally, in the researches of Luiz Costa Lima (2006), Maria Aparecida Baccega (2011), Regina Dalcastagnè (2008), Paul Ricoeur (2012) and Walter Mignolo (2001). The analyses of the literary texts are based on the concepts brought by these theorists, taking in consideration both the history and the literature – narratives that have specific features in their discourses, but that complement themselves and, sometimes, are interlaced. The study is based on a bibliographical research in the literary texts abovementioned. Thus, in Mongólia the western view contaminated by stereotypes and prejudices about the Mongolian people is discussed. In O filho da mãe is problematized the story of love between two men which, for different motives, do not survive to the socio-cultural context in which they are inserted, in the city of Saint Petersburg in middle of a war in Chechnya. Given the current emphasis on themes of diversity, study differences such as those represented in the two narratives, this study can provide an important material for academic research. Accordingly, literature and history intersect a literary text in order to view the same with other eyes enabling the reader to have a richer view of the world.