The desire and need for historical representation in postmodernism are coupled with the self-reflexive acknowledgement of our inability to faithfully represent the past. This dissertation examines the ways in which certain historical events are represented in postmodern fiction. More specifically, it introduces the term ‘distortion’ to designate various ways that postmodern authors have attempted to convey traumatic and violent histories through intentional permutations of historical facts. In this study, I analyse six texts, representative works that present the multi-faceted nature of what I call ‘distorted’ historical fiction. Each text is devoted to one of three historical events: the Holocaust in Martin Amis’s Time’s Arrow and Art Spiegelman’s Maus; the Chilean dictatorship in Diamela Eltit’s Lumpérica and Isabel Allende’s La Casa de los espíritus; and finally, the Algerian War of Independence in Kateb Yacine’s Nedjma and Mohammed Dib’s Qui se souvient de la mer. The analyses of each text are guided by three main questions: How is the depicted history distorted in the narrative? Why is the historical reality distorted? And lastly, what are the hermeneutical effects for the reader of engaging with the distorted historical text? I contend that these historical fictions apply various modes of distortion to create a specific and often peculiar effect on the reader. These include distortions of narrative form and voice, as well as distortions of temporality and space. I argue that the reader’s encounter with distorted historical fiction creates a peculiar hermeneutical effect of ‘defamiliarisation,’ which has affinities with Viktor Shklovsky’s use of the term and Bertolt Brecht’s ‘V-effekt.’ The sense of defamiliarisation creates a conflict in readers, in which their foreknowledge of a past event clashes with the event's distorted depiction. This conflict demands that the reader be responsible, implying that the reader should not be ‘swept away’ by the distorted narrative. Instead the responsible reader is encouraged to interact with the text, apply previous historical knowledge to correct said distortions, and through this interaction gain a greater intimacy with the past.

The desire and need for historical representation in postmodernism are coupled with the self-reflexive acknowledgement of our inability to faithfully represent the past. This dissertation examines the ways in which certain historical events are represented in postmodern fiction. More specifically, it introduces the term ‘distortion’ to designate various ways that postmodern authors have attempted to convey traumatic and violent histories through intentional permutations of historical facts. In this study, I analyse six texts, representative works that present the multi-faceted nature of what I call ‘distorted’ historical fiction. Each text is devoted to one of three historical events: the Holocaust in Martin Amis’s Time’s Arrow and Art Spiegelman’s Maus; the Chilean dictatorship in Diamela Eltit’s Lumpérica and Isabel Allende’s La Casa de los espíritus; and finally, the Algerian War of Independence in Kateb Yacine’s Nedjma and Mohammed Dib’s Qui se souvient de la mer. The analyses of each text are guided by three main questions: How is the depicted history distorted in the narrative? Why is the historical reality distorted? And lastly, what are the hermeneutical effects for the reader of engaging with the distorted historical text? I contend that these historical fictions apply various modes of distortion to create a specific and often peculiar effect on the reader. These include distortions of narrative form and voice, as well as distortions of temporality and space. I argue that the reader’s encounter with distorted historical fiction creates a peculiar hermeneutical effect of ‘defamiliarisation,’ which has affinities with Viktor Shklovsky’s use of the term and Bertolt Brecht’s ‘V-effekt.’ The sense of defamiliarisation creates a conflict in readers, in which their foreknowledge of a past event clashes with the event's distorted depiction. This conflict demands that the reader be responsible, implying that the reader should not be ‘swept away’ by the distorted narrative. Instead the responsible reader is encouraged to interact with the text, apply previous historical knowledge to correct said distortions, and through this interaction gain a greater intimacy with the past.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2016-09-12T13:12:35Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Clécio Ferreira Mendes.pdf: 2647556 bytes, checksum: 6147ed1a42d04e99be10d89fcfa243f7 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-09-12T13:12:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Clécio Ferreira Mendes.pdf: 2647556 bytes, checksum: 6147ed1a42d04e99be10d89fcfa243f7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-04-01 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / The objective of this thesis is to analyze the social function of Direction of National Intelligence, or DINA, agency that centered and organized the repressive apparatus of Chilean dictatorship from 1973 to 1977. In that sense, we sought to comprehend the idealization and the creation of DINA by the Military Joint of Government, under direct command of General Augusto Pinochet. The presented studies reveal that the Chilean dictatorship and DINA institute a wide movement of the right wing authoritarianism and antidemocratic against the social and political changes in course on that context and that they aimed to set up a project of bourgeois autocracy entitled “republic refoundation” and the establishment of a so-called “protected democracy”. The DINA as an unprecedented apparatus until 1974 performed roles beyond repression and suppression of social struggles or against dictatorship resistance. Its mission was the annihilation of the left and Marxism paving the way for the Chilean society standardization on the molds of a capitalist society. To guarantee the imposition of neoliberal reforms that transformed Chile / Este trabalho analisou a função social da Direção de Inteligência Nacional, a DINA, que constituiu a centralização do aparato repressivo da ditadura chilena no período de 1973 a 1977. Por isso, buscou-se compreender a idealização e a criação da DINA pela Junta Militar de Governo, sob comando do ditador General Augusto Pinochet. Os estudos revelaram que a ditadura chilena e a DINA compuseram um movimento amplo da direita autoritária e antidemocrática e que propunha um projeto de autocracia burguesa, intitulado “refundação da república” e o estabelecimento da chamada “democracia protegida”, contra as transformações sociais e políticas em curso naquele contexto. A DINA, um aparato inédito até 1974, exerceu um papel para além da repressão e contenção das lutas sociais e de resistência à ditadura. Tinha como missão o extermínio da esquerda e do marxismo, abrindo caminho para a homogeneização da sociedade chilena nos moldes de uma sociedade capitalista e garantindo a imposição das reformas neoliberais, que transformaram o Chile

Este proyecto de investigación se caracteriza como estudio histórico-etnográfica basado en estudios de casos de la vida cotidiana de nueve mujeres en Valparaíso y Viña del Mar durante la dictadura chilena, analizando el testimonio de los efectos del régimen autoritario en la vida cotidiana de estas mujeres chilenas entre 1980 y 1987. La metodología se radica firmemente en el método etnográfico con entrevistas semi-abiertas y el análisis del discurso de los relatos. En la metáfora de la arpillera (un tapiz anónimo cosido en lona ensamblado a partir de piezas de tela que muestra escenas de la vida cotidiana o protesta la dictadura de Pinochet), trozos y pedazos de experiencia se juntan en el encima de la lona de la historia para dar forma al testimonio de vida la vida cotidiana. Este proyecto se centra en tres aspectos diferentes de la relación entre el Estado autoritario y la vida cotidiana: las técnicas de gobernabilidad (macro), narraciones de silencio y miedo (micro) y trayectorias narrados (espacial), el último inspirado por el ensayo Halbwachs en caminar por la ciudad. Para cerrar, la relevancia del estudio se destaca por el intento de comprender el efecto de un estado autoritario en el sujeto femenino y las respuestas y adaptaciones que las mujeres chilenas adoptaron en la vida privada y pública mediada por la violencia y el miedo bajo dictadura. La dialéctica del acontecimiento y la rutina de la vida cotidiana bajo la dictadura se unen en las memorias narradas, mediada por el presente vivido, lo cual permite una reflexión sobre la cuestión de la alteridad en la sociedad chilena. / The research project is characterized as a historical-ethnographic study based on case studies of the everyday lives of nine women in Valparaíso and Viña del Mar during the Chilean dictatorship, analyzing testimony of the effects of the authoritarian regime on the everyday life of Chilean women between 1980 and 1987. The methodology is firmly rooted in the ethnographic method with semi-open interviews and discourse analysis of the narratives. In the metaphor of the arpillera (an anonymous tapestry sewn on canvas constructed out of pieces of cloth showing scenes of everyday life or protesting the Pinochet dictatorship), scraps and pieces of experience are sewn onto the canvas context of history to shape the testimony of lived everyday life. This project focuses on three different aspects of the relationship between authoritarian state and everyday life: techniques of governmentality (macro), narratives of silence and fear (micro), and narrated trajectories (spatial) inspired by Halbwachs’ essay on walking the city. To close, the study’s relevance is highlighted by the intent to understand the effect of an authoritarian state on the female subject and the responses and adaptations that Chilean women adopted in private and public life shaped by violence and fear. The dialectics of event and routine of everyday life under dictatorship are thus stitched together in memory, mediated by the women’s lived present, facilitating a closing reflection about alterity in Chilean society.