Four Things Found: Spatial Analysis of the House in the Novel Para Sempre by Vergílio Ferreira Cover Image

Quatro coisas encontradas: análise espacial da casa no romance Para Sempre de Vergílio Ferreira
Four Things Found: Spatial Analysis of the House in the Novel Para Sempre by Vergílio Ferreira

Author(s): Karolina Válová
Subject(s): Semiotics / Semiology, Studies of Literature, Recent History (1900 till today), Existentialism, Theory of Literature
Published by: KSIĘGARNIA AKADEMICKA Sp. z o.o.
Keywords: Portuguese novel of the 20th century; existentialism; symbol; house; space;

Summary/Abstract: The article presents the spatial analysis of the house in the novel Forever (Para Sempre, 1983) by Vergílio Ferreira, one of the greatest existentialist writers in Portuguese literature. Paulo, the self-digetic narrator, is returning to the yellow house, to the house of his childhood. It is the definitive return that begins the last phase of his life, the time it lacks until death. Wandering around the house, running down corridors, up and down stairs, entering each room, finds a stopped time, reveals his past again and thinks about his future and his dreams. There are also four symbol-things, the violin, the straw hat, the clock, and the angel figurine, that work as keys. With the support of Gaston Bachelard’s philosophical work Poetics of Space (La poétique de l’espace, 1957), it is discovered that the yellow house represents the life of Paul.

  • Issue Year: 2019
  • Issue No: 18
  • Page Range: 325-334
  • Page Count: 10
  • Language: Portuguese