The orphans of the island of Luana in Se o Passado não Tivesse Asas – or the recent history of a vast segment of Angolan society

Authors

  • Patrícia Isabel Martinho Ferreira Brown University. Department of Portuguese and Brazilian Studies
  • Leonor Simas-Almeida Brown University. Department of Portuguese and Brazilian Studies

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11606/va.v0i31.131904

Keywords:

Orphanhood, scarcity, war, famine, Pepetela

Abstract

In Se o passado não tivesse asas (2016), Pepetela invites readers to delve into postcolonial Angola. The recurrence of the topoi of orphanhood and scarcity serve as a framework for the analysis of the novel proposed here. This essay focuses on the trajectory of the protagonist – Himba / Sofia – to emphasize the social problems stemming from the civil war and the unequal distribution of wealth. The way in which the protagonist cuts ties with the past, this paper argues, is intimately related to her condition of orphan of war. The material success obtained by the main character is set against her emotional collapse, as if she were, at the end of the novel, afflicted by an orphanhood of another, emotional variety. Readers are called on to cast a critical gaze on the “dictatorship of greed” that holds sway in Angola today.

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Author Biographies

  • Patrícia Isabel Martinho Ferreira, Brown University. Department of Portuguese and Brazilian Studies

    Patrícia Martinho Ferreira é licenciada em Estudos Portugueses (2005), mestre em Teoria e Análise da Narrativa (2009) pela Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Coimbra (Portugal) e mestre em Ensino do Português como Língua Estrangeira (2012) pela Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto (Portugal).

    Atualmente é doutoranda em Estudos Portugueses e Brasileiros na Brown University (EUA) sob a orientação da Profa Dra. Leonor Simas-Almeida.

    Tem apresentado trabalhos nas áreas das literaturas portuguesa, brasileira e africana de língua portuguesa.

  • Leonor Simas-Almeida, Brown University. Department of Portuguese and Brazilian Studies

    Professora Doutora

    Department of Portuguese and Brazilian Studies

    Brown University

     

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Published

2017-12-20

Issue

Vol. 18 No. 1 (2017): Literatura e política nos países de língua portuguesa

Section

Dossiê 31: Literatura e Política nos países de língua portuguesa

License

Copyright (c) 2017 Patrícia Isabel Martinho Ferreira, Leonor Simas-Almeida

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How to Cite

FERREIRA, Patrícia Isabel Martinho; SIMAS-ALMEIDA, Leonor. The orphans of the island of Luana in Se o Passado não Tivesse Asas – or the recent history of a vast segment of Angolan society. Via Atlântica, São Paulo, v. 18, n. 1, p. 227–247, 2017. DOI: 10.11606/va.v0i31.131904. Disponível em: https://journals.usp.br/viaatlantica/article/view/131904.. Acesso em: 1 jun. 2024.