Historicity and Storytelling in East Timorese Fiction in Portuguese

Abstract

 This article analyses the interplay between historicity and a uniquely Timorese style of storytelling in the work of three diasporic writers from Timor-Leste: Luís Cardoso, Ponte Pedrinha and Domingos de Sousa. It provides a brief overview of the contemporary Timorese literary landscape and speaks to the coexistence of and links between tradition, fiction

and history. It highlights the historical dimensions of storytelling in works that dialogue dynamically with the traditional narrative forms and the Timorese imaginaire, as their authors write Timor-Leste into history.