Vicente Faustino, João Pedro (2021) Late modern subjectivity in the fictional work of Mário Cláudio : identity, memory, expression. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

Preview

PDF WRAP_Theses_Vicente_Faustino_2021.pdf - Submitted Version - Requires a PDF viewer. Download (1922Kb) | Preview

Request Changes to record.

Abstract

This study examines the manner in which the work of Portuguese contemporary writer Mário Cláudio engages in a multifaceted reflection on the subjective consequences of modern social and economic arrangements, as they are experienced in a semiperipheral location of the world-system. The dissertation focuses on two novels by the author, A Quinta das Virtudes (1990) and Tiago Veiga - Uma Biografia (2011). Set in different historical moments (the late-eighteenth and twentieth centuries) and formally very distinct (they re-invent the family novel and the biography), the works are united by common concerns. These relate to the assessment of the impact on the main characters of processes of national and transnational migration, social acceleration and of the emphasis on personal autonomy. This study shows how the novels recognise the challenges arising from the transition between different spaces and cultures, and from the competing desires to assert independence and creativity as well as to cultivate personal attachments. In these circumstances, characters adopt a reflective stance, which is accompanied by the questioning of notions of belonging and the development of feelings of alienation and lack of self-efficacy. Wary of radical solutions regarding the configuration of identities (the adherence to nationalist credos or to a radically fluid interpretation of identity), the works posit the acceptance of the complexity they depict and propose tentative strategies to cope with it. Among these are the critically informed re-invention of memory and the idea of the care for others. The novels furthermore recover the potential of the arts as a means to ordering the apparent chaos of life and achieving the desired harmonization between the subject and the world. The study ends with a discussion of the significance and consequence of the reflection proposed in the corpus examined, as well as in more general terms in Cláudio’s literary production.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > PQ Romance literatures
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Cláudio, Mário, Portuguese literature -- 20th century -- History and criticism, Portuguese literature -- 21st century -- History and criticism, Modernism (Literature), Subjectivity
Official Date:	July 2021
Dates:	Date Event July 2021 UNSPECIFIED
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	School of Modern Languages and Cultures
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Ribeiro de Menezes, Alison ; Medeiros, Paulo de
Extent:	278 leaves
Language:	eng

Request changes or add full text files to a record

Repository staff actions (login required)

View Item

Downloads