The thesis studies the Angolan novel Os Papéis do Inglês (2000), by Ruy Duarte de Carvalho. The approach to the novel will consider that the hybridity of the postcolonial space is transformed into...Show moreThe thesis studies the Angolan novel Os Papéis do Inglês (2000), by Ruy Duarte de Carvalho. The approach to the novel will consider that the hybridity of the postcolonial space is transformed into structural element and method of constructing the narrative. This hybridism is present in different levels: in the construction of characters, in narrator’s voice, in the styles and genre of the writings. It is a result mainly of the overlap of elements which are normally seen as opposites, like Fiction and History, Literature and Science. By bringing such elements together, Ruy Duarte deconstructs central ideas and categories of the Western thought and draws attention to different forms of seeing and understanding the world. This work will study two conceptual deconstructions that can be found in the novel: first the ideas which distinguish literature and scientific writings, mainly regarding the realm of anthropology and ethnography, showing how those polarities are entangled in the postcolonial universe; and in second place the concept of a linear chronological time, focusing on the idea of spectral presences and hauntings which disrupt the borders between past and present. Lastly, I will consider how those deconstructions work in the context of the Angolan literary project, as to assess how the book engages in a literary debate regarding the ideas of nation and identity, so important in the context of postcolonial states. Therefore, by subverting some paradigms of European thought, Ruy Duarte seems to be proposing alternative ways in which the Western world can relate to non-western areas.Show less
