Cultural Labour and Contemporary World Literatures in Portuguese

This book examines the evolution of contemporary narrative in Portuguese from the point of view of cultural labour. The main objective of this volume is to analyse the panorama of contemporary literary fiction in Portuguese under the prism of the economization of cultural creativity and the expansion of neoliberal understanding of creative subjectivity and self-realization. Assuming that neoliberalism still constitutes a haunting presence that becomes present in ways that are far from universal and homogeneous and that are shaped by coloniality, this book expands the debates on cultural labour and literary materialisms beyond European and North American contexts. Dealing with contemporary literary production from Brazil, Portugal, Angola, Mozambique, Cabo Verde, Macau, Canada and Goa, the volume also tries to reimagine issues of cultural labour and the expansion of artistic modes of self-definition from the point of view of contemporary literary production in Portuguese. Contents Notes on Contributors List of Figures The Work of Literature and the Worlding of Contemporary Fiction in Portuguese. An Introduction References Hands Interweaving Words: José Saramago’s Work as a Subversion of Neoliberalism Saramago and the World Cultural and Creative The Value of Books Saramago and Writing as Work References Negative Exoticism: João Paulo Borges Coelho and the Global Literary Marketplace Introduction Writing and Reality Campo de Trânsito Strategic Exoticism Works Cited Oceans of History in Angolan Literature Introduction: Fictions of History as Mediations of the Past The Cultural and Ideological Labour of “Tradition” in Writing the Nation Critical Cartographies of Historical Matter: The Case of Pepetela Final Considerations References Identity, Periphery and Globalisation: Two Narratives of Macau References Decolonial Storytelling in Micheliny Verunschk’s O som do rugido da onça Afterlives and Reenactments References From Barbarism to Cultural Consciousness in Mozambique: Mia Couto’s Creative Labour Introduction Writing as Survival Beyond Fear Beyond Suffering References The Role of African Literature in the Ecological Revolution: An Ecocritical Reading of Os Transparentes [Transparent City] by Ondjaki and Água. Uma novela rural [Water. A Rural Novella] by João Paulo Borges Coelho Os Transparentes Água. Uma novela rural Conclusion References Go Back to Your Own Country! The Dilemmas of the Return to the Territory and to Memories in the Literary Production of Authors of African Heritage in the Brazilian and Portuguese Contexts Creative Writing by Women Authors of African Heritage: Silence, Invisibility, Resistance Memory as Witness to an Origin Returning to Construct Belonging: Marilene Felinto and As Mulheres de Tijucopapo The Search for Oneself in the Return: Yara Monteiro and Essa dama bate bué! By Way of a Conclusion References Insurgent Citizenship in Drug Retail and Cultural Challenges in Contemporary Brazil A Short History of the Appearance of Marijuana in Brazil Falcon: The Role of Television and the New Cultural Agents Via Ápia References Power, Gender and Sexuality in Contemporary Cape Verdean Literature: Evel Rocha’s Marginais Gender, Nation/Affection, Dystopia References The Afterlife of Goan Literature in the Portuguese Language: From Great Houses and Gentlemen Farmers to Villas and Estate Agents Goan Literature in the Portuguese Language: The Great Unread Literary and Linguistic Entanglement in Goa The Changing Goan Literary Landscape: The Golden Goa of the Bhatkars The Bhatkar Seen from Inside the Father’s Casa Grande Who Owns the Land? Goan Literature in the Portuguese Language Today: Final Remarks References Diasporic Fictions in English: Examining Ethnicity, Cultural Clichés, Commodification and Exotification in Portuguese North American Literatures References The Author as Curator: A Procedure for Thinking about Some Current Brazilian Productions Appropriation and Intervention References Literature as Shelter and Trench New Political Reversals And Literature Opens Up New Trenches Works Cited Index