Madness, Memory and Testimony in “Depois de tudo tem uma vírgula”

Abstract

Although we have the impression that democracy is consolidated in the country, recent events show that the military dictatorship is still a topic that needs to be properly elaborated and discussed. The political prominence of a group openly defending the dictatorship and torture highlights the urgency of resuming this debate. In recent years, several works dealing with the dictatorial period have been published, which suggests a social demand to deal with the traumas caused by it. This article aims to analyze the novel Depois de tudo tem uma vírgula (2021), by Elizabeth Cardoso, taking its testimonial content as a key reading point, as well as the representations of trauma and madness in the narrative. To do so, the analysis is based on theorists who deal with testimony, such as Felman (2000), Gagnebin (2009), Ginzburg (2012), Salgueiro (2013), Sarmento-Pantoja (2019; 2021) and Seligmann-Silva (2003; 2022); as well as authors who have investigated the consequences of trauma represented in literature, such as Kehl (2010) and Padilha (2024) and, finally, with regard to gender-based violence, Teles (2017). We therefore sought to understand how these elements are interconnected in the narrative developed by Cardoso in Depois de tudo tem uma vírgula.