The violated body

silencing, desubjectivation and famale mediation in Orlanda Amarílis’ writing

Abstract

The study analyzes Orlanda Amarílis’ short story “A casa dos mastros” (1989), highlighting the treatment given to the condition of female characters as silenced and unsubjective women. It gives attention to the unnamed and dead narrator and the procedures adopted to tell the story of the character Violete. And shows how Amarílis’ writing recovers, for the woman, the mediating function betwen the living and the dead that society traditionally atributes to women, illustrating how traditional knowledge move through Cape Verdian aesthetics feeding memory and literary writing itself.