O conceito de 'retornado' e a representação da ex-metrópole em O Retorno e Os Pretos de Pousaflores

  • Patrícia Martinho Ferreira Stanford University

Abstract

Following the trajectories of the families featured in the novels O Retorno (2011), by Dulce Maria Cardoso, and Os Pretos de Pousaflores (2011), by Aida Gomes, this essay aims to problematize the meaning retornado and understand how the label evokes contradictory feelings and conceptions regarding the Portuguese colonial experience. I also reflect on the complex process of the integration of retornados into post-colonial Portuguese society. Finally, I analyze the text’s representation of the former metropole and its ambivalent role in the construction of identity undertaken by these narrators. 

Author Biography

Patrícia Martinho Ferreira, Stanford University

Patricia Martinho Ferreira holds a BA in Portuguese Studies (2005) and an MA in Theory and Analysis of Narrative (2009) from the University of Coimbra. She is currently a doctoral candidate in Portuguese and Brazilian Studies at Brown University. Her current research focuses on postcolonial literature, and she has presented papers on Portuguese, Brazilian, and Luso-African literatures. 

Published
2015-04-01
Section
Articles