A cidade distópica em um piano para cavalos altos, de Sandro William Junqueira

Abstract

The present work aims to analyze the dystopian city in the work Um piano for tall horses, by the contemporary Portuguese writer Sandro William Junqueira. City studies in the literature are increasingly relevant to reflect on social relations in an urban context of rapid transformations motivated by economic and political issues. The city, which was once considered a welcoming place, becomes a field of disputes with an increasingly segregating reality. Based on this, it is pertinent to ask: what is the understanding of dystopia and its relationship with the city? How is the social representation thought, from the perspective of dystopia in the work A piano for high horses? The research is qualitative with a bibliographical nature, based on the following studies: for understanding the concepts of dystopia, studies by M. Keith Booker (1994) and Gregory Claeys (2017) are useful; for the analysis of the contemporary city, we rely on the approaches of Renato Cordeiro Gomes (2008); for understanding the socio-spatial conflict, the vision of David Harvey (2005) and Edward Soja (1993). The modern and contemporary city is characterized by plurality and heterogeneity, with man immersed in social and territorial conflicts. An entropic city reaches its peak in contemporary times, especially with the presence of globalization, questionable political management, wars, aggressions to the environment, social control, among other problems. It is in this context that dystopian literature emerges, with the possibility of reflection on urban problems, through narratives that build potential scenarios from the current reality. A piano for tall horses, by Sandro William Junqueira, provides the dystopian metaphor of contemporary times, putting on stage a city based on social control and segregation that is imposed by zones, whose ruling class legitimizes privileges. And in the face of this authoritarian scenario, a resistance group emerges that provides a hopeful perspective in the work, characterizing a strand of dystopian fiction called critical dystopia.