Carmilla, by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu: lesbianism as a field of underground memory

• Main Authors: Marília Milhomem Moscoso Maia, Rarielle Rodrigues Lima, Sandra Maria Nascimento Sousa
• Format: Article
• Language: Portuguese
• Published: Universidade Estadual do Oeste do Paraná 2018-12-01
• Series: Travessias
• Subjects: lesbianismo; memória subterrânea; segredo
• Online Access: http://e-revista.unioeste.br/index.php/travessias/article/view/20851

This article intends to analyze the Carmilla work of Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu evidencing that through the narration and the memories of Laura it is possible to understand the lesbianism like space of the private one, underground memory or the trauma. We will emphasize lesbianism in the narrative as something diluted, presented now as friendship, now as admiration or aversion. Carmilla is a work still little known and does not present works that contemplate a theoretical discussion about the memory and the lesbianism existing in the narrative of Le Fanu. The literary space, memory and lesbianism will be treated under an interdisciplinary proposal of the contributions of Michel Foucault (1996, 2015), Sedgwick (2007), Michael Pollack (1992, 1989) and Maurice Halbwachs (2006).