To Narrate/To Edit: faces of refracted realism in De mim já nem se lembra (2007), by Luiz Ruffato

Abstract

This article proposes a reading of the novel De mim já nem se lembra (2016), by Luiz Ruffato from refracted realism perspective through which it is possible the creation and assignment of value to the subjects’ lifestyles that were forgotten by history. By intertwining different narrative instances either of autodiegetic narration or the letters supposedly written by José Célio, the narrator’s brother, Ruffato revitalizes distinct forms of representing and problematizing the real. In the articulations between different realistic strategies the letters stand out as records of the everyday life of a common guy who witnesses and experiences during the military- civilian dictatorship. Lastly based on new history studies other dimensions of dictatorship years are revealed by reading letters concrete details as well as the narration that, unable to represent the real itself, becomes refractory.