THE ALLEGORICAL DUALITY OF CATASTROPHE IN “O QUASE FIM DO MUNDO”, BY THE ANGOLAN WRITER PEPETELA

<span lang="EN-US">The present work aims to study the book "O quase fim do mundo", written by Pepetela. This impactful work relates the living conditions of a small group of survivors of a global catastrophe, caused by the deployment of a mass destruction weapon, created by...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Maria Geralda Miranda, Reis Friede, Katia Avelar
Format: Article
Language:Portuguese
Published: Universidade Federal Fluminense 2015-04-01
Series:Abril
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.revistaabril.uff.br/index.php/revistaabril/article/view/124
Description
Summary:<span lang="EN-US">The present work aims to study the book "O quase fim do mundo", written by Pepetela. This impactful work relates the living conditions of a small group of survivors of a global catastrophe, caused by the deployment of a mass destruction weapon, created by fundamentalists. The study starts from the concept of allegory, in the way as Walter Benjamin conceives it; then, it situates the characters in time and space. The symbolic feature of the catastrophe will be debated from a dualistic view, having in mind that a collapse always allows a new beginning. First, the survivors had to understand the range of the disaster; next, they started to restructure their lives according to new patterns. The relation of the characters with the consumer goods, such as money, jewels, clothes, cars, airplanes, also received our attention, because the "values of use and exchange" of the products are totally altered.</span>
ISSN:1984-2090