Autofictional trauma in post-Imperial Portuguese literature

Thesis

This thesis aims to situate the work of three contemporary Portuguese female authors, Lídia Jorge, Isabela Figueiredo, and Dulce Maria Cardoso, within the autofictional genre in order to interrogate how the trauma of their own personal experience of the Colonial Wars and decolonisation era is reflected within their writing. Drawing on the theoretical framework of Vincent Colonna, I propose that each of the works investigated can be positioned along a spectrum of autofictionality, due to the proximity or distance of the authors from their respective narrators and protagonists. I contend that an autofictional blurring of fact and fiction within A Costa dos Murmúrios (1988), Caderno de Memórias Coloniais (2009, 2015), and O Retorno (2011) is a productive strategy for the depiction of trauma and enables the traumatic memories of the authors to bleed onto the page, albeit from a protected distance.

This study draws on close textual analysis to assess the breadth, and severity, of the physical and mental trauma experienced during the Colonial Wars and decolonisation epoch. This thesis is careful to give equal weight to protagonists of different genders, with an integral dimension of the analysis being its innovative focus on masculinities. My close reading develops across four chapters, traversing themes of photography, gender, and sexuality, and examines the traumatic implications of this period ranging from PTSD and suicide to sexual assault. My assessment of a range of protagonists highlights that, through their depiction of trauma, Jorge, Figueiredo and Cardoso explode and problematise nostalgic notions of the Portuguese empire and Estado Novo ideologies of imperial power. This study questions the possibility of survival and recovery proposed by the three authors, not only for their traumatised characters, but also for themselves, and culminates with a reading of these works as a “protected” and cathartic reliving of trauma.

Authors: Glaze, O

• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: autofiction; post-imperial; portuguese literature; gender; trauma
• Subjects: Portuguese; Memory; Psychic trauma in literature