WRITING, LUGAR DE FALA, AND IMAGINATIVE LISTENING IN CONTEMPORARY BRAZILIAN LITERATURE

Abstract

Abstract: In discussions of literature, the term lugar de fala is understood and invoked in different ways, often during debates about what kinds of characters and stories a given author can reasonably and ethically write, given their own identity and life experience. In this article, we explore lugar de fala by analyzing short texts from four Brazilian authors: Geovani Martins’s “Espiral” (2018), a series of poems from Cristiane Sobral’s collection Só por hoje vou deixar meu cabelo em paz (2014), Adriana Lisboa’s short story “Glória” (2016), and Luiz Ruffato’s “Comer sushi em Beirute” (2014). Though often used in a negative sense to attempt to limit what authors and figures can or should say, we explore lugar de fala in an expansive sense and argue that, perhaps counterintuitively, the four authors in question view writing as an important form of imaginative listening.

Keywords: Lugar de fala; Contemporary Brazilian literature; Geovani Martins; Cristiane Sobral; Adriana Lisboa; Luiz Ruffato