Um mundo ancorado em bases instáveis: memória e identidade em Antes de nascer o mundo, de Mia Couto

Abstract

The literature in African countries, so in Mozambique, is defined as an important instrument for social change, committed to something, without disregarding the aesthetic dimension of the texts, looking beyond it, to go beyond it, as suggested by the term post of Post-colonialism. From the reinterpretation and rewriting of national narratives, as subversion to the canon, post-colonial literature has been developed as a cultural effort by the decolonization and restoration of communities and identities that have long been silenced. Thus, the writing is projected as main reporting vehicle of an unjust and unjustifiable situation to their victims. So, the literature is presented as an open window to representation of the decentered, diasporic and fragmented subject that emerges from post-colonialism. Mia Couto carries to the fictional universe of his works the discussion about this identity which is seen in post-colonial perspective as a metaphor of your own country. Another issue worked is the memory which has been extensively studied in contemporaneity and whose concept has been extended to the most varied fields of knowledge, such as anthropology, sociology, philosophy, history, among others. Therefore, this research aims to perform a reading of the novel Antes de nascer o mundo, by the Mozambican author Mia Couto, trying to demonstrate how memory and identity are embedded in the post-colonial third-space represented in this novel. Furthermore, we emphasize the following elements that could not be overlooked: the Mozambican historical and literary route, the historical referentiality in the construction of the novel, the condition of women shown in the work, the African oral tradition and the relationship between orality and writing in Mozambique. The analysis of the work enabled to note that, in its fictional universe, identity and memory are presented fragmented and in an uninterrupted pendular movement. In the meantime, they are negotiated and the differences are confronted and exposed. As theoretical contributions to our work, we use Homi K. Bhabha, Stuart Hall, Jacques Le Goff, Iván Izquierdo, Maurice Halbwachs, Jöel Candau, Kwame Anthony Appiah and Rita Chaves, among others who are equally relevant for this study.