As dicotomias da Nação: o espaço em Eterna paixão e Venenos de Deus, remédios do Diabo

Abstract

Comparative studies have allowed a decentralization of literature, fostering an openness to study literary work previously considered peripheral. The study presented here shows a comparison between two works - Eterna Paixão (1994), from Abduali Sila, a Guinean writer, and Venenos de Deus, Remédios do Diabo (2008), from Mia Couto, a Mozambican writer. The theoretical construct examines subjects as the imagined communities, observed by external spaces (public sphere) and internal spaces (private sphere) in the post-colonial period. This moment in history becomes unique for young African nations, because it is a period of tension generated by numerous local cultural aspects and issues related to modernity. The reflection and explanation of ideas of the theoretical questions concerning this research are mainly enlightened by Henry Lefebvre, Partha Chatterjee, Hommi Bhabha, Kwame Appiah and Stuart Hall, in relation to space, the imagined communities, culture, nation and identity. Each of the analyzed work reveals their imagined community, which means, they create an image of a nation to reflect on the path that their countries took after a long period of colonization. Indeed, subjects have had a difficulty in understanding and dealing with local customs and myths in relation to modernity. Thus, nation dichotomies are created and show the differences between the local and the global, and how these differences end up shaping the construction of national image.