Fronteiras da alteridade: os animots de Milton Hatoum em Relato de um certo Oriente

Abstract

Published in 1989, Milton Hatoum’s debut novel, Tale of a Certain Orient, is marked by several decenterings that are revealed even in the plot of his book. This work aims to examine these decenterings, especially with regard to the relationships between the urban environment and the wild environment, as represented in Manaus, the setting for the book. In an in-depth examination of border relations, the ones between humans and animals will be investigated, more specifically, and the animality itself expressed in the work. The episode of the human bush, a character that took place in the sixth chapter of Hatoum’s novel and which aroused controversies among critics, will be analyzed from a perspective that recognizes the structural importance of the character and his adequate integration into the work. Finally, in the light of Jacques Derrida's thought, in his essay, The Animal That Therefore I Am, a new questioning of the boundaries of individuation will be proposed, which suggests a complex intertwining between the characters and resumes the notions of alterity.