A Box with a Hole, the Survival of the Butterflies

Abstract

This essay criticises the novel Sobre o que não falamos, written by Ana Cristina Braga Martes (2023). Initially addressing Clara's journey as a child to uncover the whereabouts of her parents, the novel simultaneously digs into the brazilian dictatorship established in 1964. This historical-political portrait allows me to compare the butterflies, a recurring image in the œuvre, with the fireflies, which represent to Georges Didi-Huberman (2011) an antifascist resistance. The narrative also enables me to articulate the concept of “democracy”, as conceived by Jacques Rancière (2005), as well as to perceive the impacts of a “military coup d’état” pointed out by Nelly Richard (2007). In Clara's context, the resistance against fascism includes a confrontation with the dispositif of racialization, as proposed by Sueli Carneiro (2021), and also with misogyny. Adding to the aesthetic-political discussion, the essay aims to understand Sobre o que não falamos (2023) in dialogue with two traditions of Bildungsromane: firstly based on Franco Moretti’s (1987) perception of democracy in the British Bildungsromane to establish a comparison with the Brazilian novel; after, based on Wilma Patrícia Maas (2000) and Cristina Ferreira Pinto (1990) to position Sobre o que não falamos (2003) within another tradition: of the female Bildungsroman.