The figures of decadence in the novels of Carlos de Oliveira Volume 2

ISBN-13: 9786206263524 / Angielski / Miękka / 148 str.

Paul Ngor Mack Ndour

Opis

Following on from the first volume, devoted to the study of "actantial figures of decline" in the novels of Portuguese neo-realist writer Carlos de Oliveira: Casa na Duna, 1942, Pequenos Burgueses, 1948, Uma Abelha na Chuva, 1953 and Finisterra, 1978; this second volume, entitled "spatiotemporal figures of decline", takes a semiotic and epistemological approach to the faces of time and space. The author explores the signs of human decay with a theoretical apparatus based on psychoanalysis (Gaston Bachelard), psychocriticism (Charles Mauron), geopoetics (Michel Collot) and geocriticism (Christine Baron). The rural space of the Gândara, a lunar setting where humanity struggles close to chaos, is analysed in minute detail. Chronological time is considered in its inexorable evolution towards decadence or in the fossilising conservatism it inspires in the petty bourgeoisie. A microcosm of Portuguese society at the time of the Salazar dictatorship, the domestic circle is symbolised by swamps that ferment and then offer the troubled faces of metamorphosis towards death.

O autorze

Born in 1966 in Mbodiène, Senegal, Paul Ngor Mack Ndour holds a DEA in Portuguese Studies from Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar. He obtained a doctorate in Portuguese literature from the University of Paris IV Sorbonne. A research teacher at UCAD, he is also Inspector General of Education and Training.