Becos, barracos e buracos : afetos e fabulação Deleuziana em Becos da memória, de Conceição Evaristo

Abstract

This research focuses on analyzing the work Alleys of memory, by Conceição Evaristo, under the tonic of affections and Deleuzian fabulation, through a literature review, adopting bibliographical research as a method. About the study of affects, it is possible to verify that there is no specific reference for the study of literary works. In this sense, an attempt was made to survey the conception of affection in authors and scholars from different areas, examining its applicability to literary analysis and criticism. Furthermore, we tried to elucidate the term fabulation, as it is configured, a priori, as a sketch and, later, as a concept itself, developed by Gilles Deleuze (1992, 1997, 2002, 2003) and systematized by Ronald Bogue (2010), which examined its function and employability in literary-critical studies. In the construction of Becos da memória, Evaristo (2017) emphasizes that her writing is neither fiction nor autobiography, so that at the base of her work there is what she calls “escrevivência”. In the weaving of his text, Evaristo makes use of memories from his childhood and fills the gaps with his invention. The result is a work with a profusion of narrative voices that revisit from the past of slavery in Brazil to more recent times. In view of this, this study was dedicated to analyzing how these various voices are organized in the text, verifying aesthetic aspects about language and the novel as a voice of the collectivity; as well as it sought to debate the marks of the otherness of black people from the analysis of the character “the Other”. The role of affective memory was examined and some concepts related to time and Deleuzian fable in the construction of the narrative were discussed. From the analysis of the characters, it was observed how Vó Rita, Tio Totó, Bondade and Negro Alírio can be read as love, ancestry, kindness and militancy, respectively. Constructed in a typified way, we demonstrate how the allegorization of this four fulfills the role of representing an idea, functioning as the four pillars that must support the construction of a new arrangement in society. To adjust to this purpose, therefore, it is essential that these characters are represented with this type of planned stability, as they play the role of a cornerstone in the building of a community to come. We also scrutinized how the process of Conceição Evaristo's fable writing takes place, indicating how her writing reveals itself as a movement of fabulation in the Deleuzian sense. It was shown how the narrative of Becos da Memória fulfills the objectives of Deleuzian fabulation as an "experimentation anchored in reality, the becoming other (becoming-other), the myth (subtitle) and the invention of a people to come" (BOGUE; 2010). At the end of this work, the considerations converge towards Ronald Bogue's (2006; 2010; 2011) thought plan, corroborating this theorist's perspective on the applicability of Deleuzian fabulation as a tool for the study of literary texts, considering that it is proved productive in the analysis of Becos da Memória, by Conceição Evaristo, revealing itself to be useful as a theoretical model for critical analysis.