A critic of the short story/testimony ‘Nada de novo na frente ocidental’, by Lygia Fagundes Telles

Abstract

This article analyzes “Nada de Novo na Frente Ocidental”, narrative that concludes the book Invenção e memória (2000), writer’s Lygia Fagundes Telles. From the hybridism that conjugates real facts and fiction, the author realizes a tale / testimony that includes the approach around the memory and the forgetfulness. Thus, this analysis highlights both the question of the tensions between truth and literary creation, as well as the relation of the author / protagonist, when recalling the past with nostalgia, in this case, the São Paulo of the 1950s, when she was legionary. One striking episode will guide a cut and attempt of oblivion at all costs: the death of the father, causing her to try to block sad memories. Based on Psychoanalysis, the discussion of this tale makes possible reflections on remembrance, forgetfulness and also on the passage of time and death.