Memory as national’s identity’s disintegration in The caravels, by António Lobo Antunes

Abstract

This article aims to analyse the memorialist data in the novel The caravels, by António Lobo Antunes. To do so, it considers Paul Ricoeur’s (2007) notions of memory and forced memorization, Walter Benjamin’s (1987) conception of the memorialist procedure, and Eduardo Lourenço’s (1978, 1994) understanding of the hypertrophic Portuguese identity process. Regarding methodology, the analysis freely employs the notion of unity between form and content and the internalization of social data by literature, in accordance with the perspective of integrative reading (Candido, 2014). Throughout the analysis, it was observed how two characters in the novel — namely Pedro Álvares Cabral and the man named Luís — relate, through memory, to the fictional spaces, producing ruptures in relation to their historical counterparts. We conclude, at the end of the critical reading, that the characters reject the Portuguese environment and find their possibilities for reconstructing a national identity obstructed.