Abstract

MOTA, António. The stories within history: ambiguous memory constructions in João Paulo Borges Coelho’s O Olho de Hertzog. Diacrítica [online]. 2014, vol.28, n.3, pp.331-348. ISSN 0807-8967.

Through the analysis of João Paulo Borges Coelho’s novel O Olho de Hertzog (2010), this essay aims to discuss the processes of narrative construction between fiction, History and memory. The repositioning of Mozambican identity towards the dominant narrative will be analyzed by starting with an interpretation of the ‘ex-centric’ perspective of the First World War presented by this book, which assumes a hybrid character between detective and historical novel. This idea is supported by the study of a number of narratives in the novel which, due to their deliberate ‘halftruth’ character, meditate on memory as a practice of recovering the past, showing the potential of the ambiguities between history, memory and fiction in the context of a search for identity.

Keywords : João Paulo Borges Coelho; fiction; history; memory.

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