Sob as asas do passado : ideias de utopia na narrativa de Pepetela.

Abstract

This thesis seeks to investigate, from a hermeneutic perspective, the emerging conceptions of utopia in some works by the Angolan writer Pepetela. To do so, I consider the narratives Mayombe (1979) and The generation of utopia (1992), in contrast to the more “realistic”, disenchanted, or less utopian perspective – present in If the past did not have wings (2017). This research takes into account the values and worldviews of the characters in different historical moments of the independence of Angola evidenced in the three novels, observing Pepetela's perspective in the periods in which the books were written and considering the passage of time between one work and another. The narrative trajectory that involves the works contemplates the historical period of the war (from 1961 to 1974), the post-independence period (from 1975) and the civil war (1975 to 2002). During the three periods, it is possible to observe the contrast of dreamy guerrillas, at the beginning of the war, with the disturbing reality of the moment after it, in a country that is now free, but devastated by violence and social inequality. For this reason, in If the past had no wings, I propose a listening attitude that connects the work with a possible point of change in the author's own perception of utopia. Thus, the initial hypothesis of the research assumes that the brutality of war modifies the utopian perspective of individuals in relation to the world, makes them less idealizers in relation to the facts. Therefore, I seek to understand to what extent the war and its consequences interfere in the construction of the plot of the works, considering Pepetela's experiences during their writing. The listening proposed here reveals a possible perspective in relation to the text, raised, most of the time, in the apprehension of the narrated facts without any pretension of a closed reading. My hermeneutic path is based mainly on the thinking of Ernildo Stein (1996), Hans-Georg Gadamer (1998) and Jacques Derrida (2002), from the perspective of the inexistence of an absolute or universally valid truth. Despite the conflict between the theoretical question that arises from the Gadamerian dialectic, which defends the confrontation of ideas as a process of productive refinement, in relation to the Derridean perspective that rejects dialectical thinking, the clash between the theories does not produce damage to the process interpretation of the thesis, since neither are imposed as a method in the work proposed here and also because the main issue considered in Derrida's conception is that of différance (difference and postponement), that is, the idea of deconstruction that always leaves possibilities of interpretation open to the future. The chapters devoted to the history of Angola were based, above all, on the research of Agostinho Alexandre Joaquim da Silva (2014) and Marcelo Bittencourt (2008). With regard to utopia, the works of Thomas Morus (2001) and Tommaso Campanella (2001) stand out, in addition to the approach related to ethics with Aristotle (1991) and Fernando Savater (2000). For the reading of Pepetela's work, the main sources of study were the researchers Inocência Mata (2010), Rita Chaves (2009) and Tânia Macedo (2009).