Jamais haverá uma última palavra : uma poética da ficção histórica de Dinah Silveira de Queiroz

Abstract

Dinah Silveira de Queiroz (1911-1982), in the course of a literary career spanning more than 40 years, wrote novels, short stories, plays, science fiction and children's literature. The historical novel, however, was one of the genres key to securing Queiroz's popularity. A prime example is The women of Brazil (1954), set in the background the War of the Emboabas. Another instance is that of Os invasores (1965), the storyline of which depicts the events surrounding the French invasion of Rio de Janeiro in 1710, headed by Jean-François Duclerc. The body of critical literature devoted to a comprehensive analysis of Dinah's works is not extensive, and authors are almost unanimous in regarding only The women of Brazil and Os invasores as her historical novels. However, this doctoral dissertation proposes the possibility of adding another work to this group: Margarida La Rocque: a ilha dos demônios (1949), a novel set in 16th-century France amid European maritime expeditions. Accordingly, the main objective of this work is to present a study of a group of novels considered to be Queiroz’s historical fiction pieces, while including Margarida La Rocque in such a group. This approach was carried out for the most part utilizing theoretical and critical frameworks that have been applied to historical fiction, drawing from the work of such foundational authors as György Lukács, Linda Hutcheon, Fernando Aínsa and Seymour Menton, as well as others with a more recent output such as Magdalena Perkowska and Antônio Esteves. The writings of scholars who have examined the relationship between literature and history are also considered - including here some of Dinah's own reflections on this topic. A close reading of the three above-mentioned novels led to the identification of the particular traits that connect them to traditional as well as to more contemporary types of historical fiction. In addition, the parallel analysis of Margarida La Rocque, The women of Brazil and Os invasores pointed to the recurrence of certain features in all three books, which motivated the proposal to delineate a poetics of the historical fiction of Dinah Silveira de Queiroz.