Des univers et des créatures étranges: le surnaturel chez José Luís Peixoto
Strange Universes, Strange Creatures: Supernatural Features i José Luís Peixoto’s Novels

Author(s): Vânia Rego
Subject(s): Studies of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Keywords: supernatural; fantasy; realismo mágico; José Luís Peixoto;
Summary/Abstract: Portuguese contemporary novelist José Luís Peixoto, mostly known for his reflexive and intimate writing, goes beyond the field of self-writing by adding features of a supernatural universe drawn from Portuguese traditional tales and folklore.In his novels, the supernatural shows as a result of a mixed literary heritage – fantasy and realismo mágico, in particular – and the writing of the self proves to bea fertile ground for the construction of strange universes with an undeniable link to the fantastique genre and the presence of ethereal realms.Through the supernatural, Peixoto allows himself to express a crisis of values, since the metaphysical search for man and God might be understood as an allegory for the anxieties in contemporary societies. The use of elements of fantasy, in the works of an author coming from the Alentejo, a Portuguese rural region, might also represent the apprehension for the loss of his childhood world, including its inhabitants, oral traditions and legends.

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