Viagens, objetos e escrita: os itinerários da geografia existencial em Mãe, de Hugo Gonçalves

Abstract

This research departs from a reading of the novel Mãe by the young Portuguese author Hugo Gonçalves, in which it is possible to identify the presence of an “existential geography” throughout the narrative, essentially structured around three key elements: travel, objects, and self-writing. Furthermore, the novel may be classified as a Bildungsroman in a renewed format, considering the transformations the genre has undergone in response to contemporary societal changes. Thus, this study aims not only to examine and contextualize Hugo Gonçalves's poetics within the framework of the Novíssima Ficção Portuguesa (Newest Portuguese Fiction), but also to investigate the new directions being taken by the Bildungsroman in the contemporary world, as well as to analyze the structural axes of this recent Portuguese novel. The theoretical foundation draws on scholarly works about contemporary Portuguese literature by Maria Alzira Seixo, Carlos Reis, Miguel Real, and Eduardo Lourenço, in addition to critical perspectives on the Bildungsroman provided by Franco Moretti, Wilma Patrícia Maas, Marcus Vinicius Mazzari, and Maria Cecília Marks. The research also engages with studies on memory, objects, and self-writing by Marc Augé, Yi-Fu Tuan, Italo Calvino, Byung-Chul Han, and Michel Foucault.