Um defeito de cor: an intersemiotic novel or the semioses of a novel

Abstract

This article seeks to examine the novel Um defeito de cor as an intersemiotic, synesthetic artistic-translatory experience, in light of the still persistent exclusion of race and gender in these parts of the Atlantic, particularly in Brazil. To this end, some analytical experiments will be carried out, both endogenous — in the form of the analysis of narrative elements and proverbs, in the chapters; and exogenous — in the form of the interrelation with the autobiographical letter written by Luiz Gama, of the speculations about the existence of Luiza Mahin, and of the exercise, finally, that the prophetic vision of the past advocates, as suggested by Édouard Glissant. Based on the appreciation of these elements, the aim is to trace (inter)sign, interrelational dialogs, in contrast with the postulates on Intersemiotic Translation brought by Julio Plaza. The present work will examine the aforementioned novel as a transcoded oraliture in translating a past that, at first, hid black memories as insignificant, and that now return to the forefront, making literature dance in the excess of transatlantic trauma, as well as of the beyond-trauma. By launching historical and literary indexes that dent violent and banalized notions that often come from the monolithic History of an agonal and totalizing I-nation, the novel in question translates and reconstitutes attempts at humanity for those who had and have had, continuously and throughout the last centuries, this humanity usurped from them.