Seeing Politics Otherwise: Vision in Latin American and Iberian Fiction (University of Toronto Romance Series)

Abre-me sonho Para a loucura a tenebrosa porta, Que a treva é menos negra que esta luz. Fernando Pessoa, Fausto 1 Blindness runs like an invisible thread through many twentieth-century Latin American and Iberian literary and cultural creations thematizing political violence. 2 This is, perhaps, not surprising, given that the waves of aggression perpetrated against dissidents by the dictatorial regime of Francisco Franco in Spain (1939-75), the Estado Novo in Portugal (1933-74) and in Brazil (1937-45), and the military dictatorships in Brazil (1964-85), Chile (1973-90), and Argentina (1976-83), to name but a few, led many of those who lived through the periods in question to experience them as 'dark times.' The metaphorical darkness of the situation was paralleled by the literal blindness of countless political prisoners who were often blindfolded, held in solitary confinement, and tortured. Nevertheless, the blindness featured in the works of art that responded, either contemporaneously or in retrospect, to these veritable states of emergency was not a phenomenon with purely negative features. In addition to its undeniably debilitating character, lack of vision was often conceived as an empowering condition: as a locus of resistance to violence, as a site of ethical and political reflection, or as the last refuge for the psychic interiority of the victim. If the ability to see were to be regained after the end of the historical nightmares, then blindness would be entrusted with the task of reconstituting a vision Introduction: Shadows of Vision 1 At the Blink of an Eye: Vision, Ethics, and Politics When Confronting Twentieth-century Political Oppression And Violence, Writers And Artists In Portugal And South America Have Often Emphasized The Complex Relationship Between Freedom And Tyranny. In Seeing Politics Otherwise, Patricia Vieira Uses An Interdisciplinary Approach To Explore The Interrelation Of Politics And Representations Of Vision And Blindness In Latin American And Iberian Literature, Film, And Art. Vieira's Discussion Focuses On Three Literary Works: Graciliano Ramos's Memoirs Of Prison, Ariel Dorfman's Death And The Maiden, And José Saramago's Blindness, With Supplemental Analyses Of Sculpture And Film By Ana Maria Pacheco, Bruno Barreto, And Marco Bechis. These Artists Use Metaphors Of Blindness To Denounce The Totalizing Gaze Of Dictatorial Regimes. Rather Than Equating Blindness With Deprivation, Vieira Argues That Shadows, Blindfolds, And Blindness Are Necessary Elements For Re-imagining The Political World And Re-acquiring A Political Voice. Seeing Politics Otherwise Offers A Compelling Analysis Of Vision And Its Forcible Deprivation In The Context Of Art And Political Protest.--pub. Desc. Introduction: Shadows Of Vision -- 1. At The Blink Of An Eye : Vision, Ethics, And Politics -- 2. Darkness And The Animal In Graciliano Ramos's Memórias Do Cárcere (memoirs Of Prison) -- 3. Twists Of The Blindfold In Art, Fiction, And Film -- 4. The Reason Of Vision : Variations On Subjectivity In José Saramago's Ensaio Sobre A Cegueira (blindness). Patrícia Vieira. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [177]-190) And Index. Contents 7 Acknowledgments 9 Introduction: Shadows of Vision 13 1 At the Blink of an Eye: Vision, Ethics, and Politics 18 1.1 Vision and Blindness in Greco-Roman Mythology 19 1.2 The Greek Philosophy of Light and Darkness: Parmenides and Plato 23 1.3 Judaeo-Christian Representations of God: The Question of the Image and the Excess of Brightness 29 1.4 Dark Spots in the Sun: Viewing the Enlightenment Project 33 1.5 Twentieth-Century Fragments of Vision in Ruins 37 2 Darkness and the Animal in Graciliano Ramos’s Memórias do Cárcere (Memoirs of Prison) 50 2.1 Darkness in a State of Emergency 50 2.2 The Ghost of the Animal 60 2.3 Autobiographical Twilight 68 3 Twists of the Blindfold in Art, Fiction, and Film 75 3.1 Blindfolds, Hoods, and the Exercise of Power in the Art of Ana Maria Pacheco 77 3.2 Torture and Sociality in Ariel Dorfman’s Death and the Maiden 88 3.3 Filming the Blindfold: Garaje Olimpo (Garage Olimpo) and O que é isso Companheiro? (Four Days in September) 103 4 The Reason of Vision: Variations on Subjectivity in José Saramago’s Ensaio sobre a Cegueira (Blindness) 108 4.1 The Reason of Blindness 108 4.2 Becoming Blind, Becoming a Subject 115 4.3 Collective Vision 126 Conclusion Readings in the Dark: Shades of Criticism 135 Notes 147 Works Cited 187 Index 201 A 201 B 201 C 202 D 202 E 203 F 203 G 203 H 204 I 204 J 204 K 204 L 204 M 205 N 205 O 205 P 205 Q 206 R 206 S 206 T 207 U 207 V 208 W 208

When confronting twentieth-century political oppression and violence, writers and artists in Portugal and South America have often emphasized the complex relationship between freedom and tyranny. In Seeing Politics Otherwise, Patricia Vieira uses an interdisciplinary approach to explore the interrelation of politics and representations of vision and blindness in Latin American and Iberian literature, film, and art.

Vieira's discussion focuses on three literary works: Graciliano Ramos's Memoirs of Prison, Ariel Dorfman's Death and the Maiden, and José Saramago's Blindness, with supplemental analyses of sculpture and film by Ana Maria Pacheco, Bruno Barreto, and Marco Bechis. These artists use metaphors of blindness to denounce the totalizing gaze of dictatorial regimes. Rather than equating blindness with deprivation, Vieira argues that shadows, blindfolds, and blindness are necessary elements for re-imagining the political world and re-acquiring a political voice. Seeing Politics Otherwise offers a compelling analysis of vision and its forcible deprivation in the context of art and political protest.