A poetics of the historical fiction of Dinah Silveira de Queiroz

Abstract

Dinah Silveira de Queiroz (1911-1982), in the course of a literary career spanning more than 40 years, wrote novels, short stories, plays, science fiction and children's literature. The historical fiction, however, was one of the genres key to securing Queiroz's popularity. with works such as Margarida La Rocque: a ilha dos demônios (1949), The women of Brazil (1954) and Os invasores (1965). A close reading of the three above-mentioned novels led to the identification of the particular traits that resulted in a proposal to define a poetics of historical fiction of Dinah Silveira de Queiroz, with seven main characteristics: 1) The leading role played by female characters; 2) The use of various forms of intertextuality; 3) Criticism of colonial practices; 4) The coexistence of opposites, especially the sacred and the profane; 5) The choice of obscure and uncertain historical events; 6) The presence of the act of narrating and problematizations about it; 7) The questioning of history. This approach was carried out for the most part utilizing theoretical and critical frameworks that have been applied to historical fiction, drawing from the work of such foundational authors as György Lukács and Linda Hutcheon, as well as others with a more recent output such as Magdalena Perkowska and Diana Wallace.