Alterity and mystery in tales by Milton Hatoum

Abstract

In this article we present the analysis of four short stories by Milton Hatoum, included in the book  A Cidade ilhada, published in 2009. In order of analysis: “Dois poetas da província”, “Encontros na península”, “Bárbara no inverno” e “A Casa ilhada”. Our purpose is to highlight constant topics of Hatounian fiction, as the following: memory, foundation of novel narratives; alterity, a typical feature of foreigners present in their texts; mysteries, a technique conducive to the reader's participation in the construction of plots, as well as the Machadian influence on Hatoum, detectable in the second related story, seen through the literary dispute between the “wizard” of Cosme Velho and the Portuguese writer Eça de Queirós; and also, exposition of metaphors and symbols dispersed in these tales, as well as a dialogue with Greek mythology, and the author's reflection on the years of the military dictatorship. Our research has a bibliographic character in which we seek to enrich it under the theoretical perspectives of Nélson Werneck Sodré, Victor Leandro da Silva, Eduardo Galeano.