BODIES THAT TRANSGRAGE

representations of the female body in colonial historical romances

Abstract

This work presents a reading of the representation of the female body in two historical novels, set in a colonial context, Desmundo (1996), by Brazilian author Ana Miranda, and A árvore das palavras (2004), by Portuguese Teolinda Gersão. The two narratives, located respectively in Colonial Brazil in the 16th century and in Mozambique in the 20th century, focus on female characters to fictionally recount the experiences lived by women during the colonization process. To this end, the political and social reality to which these women were subjected is put on the scene, showing the restriction and impositions common to the female subject. It is in this context that issues such as marriage and motherhood become central in the process of representing the bodies of the protagonist characters, proving that the colonial condition cannot be seen in the novels as a mere historical peculiarity, but as an element that duplicates the situation of domination and subordination of women. Therefore, it is interesting to know, in this work, how such a historical condition cuts and influences the construction of these female representations, including analyzing the State's historical interference on the relationship of women and their own bodies.