Transcultural and Imagological Figures: Disenchantment, Allophilia, and Belonging in Enrique Vila-Matas and Antonio Tabucchi

Maria João Simões

doi:10.13125/2039-6597/2648

Maria João Simões Universidade de Coimbra http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6648-9097

DOI: https://doi.org/10.13125/2039-6597/2648

Keywords: imagology, literary transnationalism, allophilia, identity, alterity

Abstract

In some contemporary literary works, the presence of the ‘other’ and the representation of the ‘foreigner’ emphasize the problematic ways by which human beings relate to foreign people, revealing how those issues are pressing concerns in modern society.

This study questions how the shift in the way we perceive identity and belonging are depicted in Enrique Vila-Matas and Antonio Tabucchi’s fictions. Both authors aesthetically represent episodes and situations where characters’ relation to space is problematic, showing how the idea of belonging can be related not only to a specific country or a special space, but also to a desired space.

Furthermore, based on the pregnancy of the notion of ‘dwelling’ theorized by Emmanuel Levinas, this study analyses how characters and narrators aesthetically represent the complexity of belonging and examines some of the transnational transfers and multicultural connexions displayed by both autors, mainly in Never Any End to Paris and It’s Getting Later All the Time.

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Author Biography

Maria João Simões, Universidade de Coimbra

Maria João Simões is PhD Professor of the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures at the Faculty of Humanities - Universidade of Coimbra (Portugal). Email: mjsimoes@fl.uc.pt Main subjects of research: Portuguese literature, comparative literatura, imagology, literary transnationalism and Realism. Membre of Executif Committee of the portuguese research eentre “Centro de Literatura Portuguesa”. Coordinator of the ongoing project “Literature, Imagology and Transnationalism: Representation of Migrations”. Coordinator of a project, completed in 2011, with results has published in the volume Imagotipos Literários: Processos de (Des)Configuração na Imagologia Literária (2011). Publications: “Imagology and Relational Complexity: The Group Stereotype” , in Coutinho, Eduardo F. (ed.) Beyond Binarisms. Discontinuities and Displacements: Studies in Comparative Literature, (2009). Editor of the volumes O Grotesco, 2005; O Fantástico, 2007; co-editor of the volume O Século do Romance. Realismo e Naturalismo na Ficção Oitocentista (2013). Maria João Simões: PhD Professor Dipartimento di Lingue, Culture Literatues in presso la Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia - Università di Coimbra. Email: mjsimoes@fl.uc.pt Soggetti principali di ricerca: letteratura portoghese, letteratura comparata, imagology, transnazionalismo letterario e realismo. Membre del Comitato Esecutivo dei portoghesi centro di ricerca "Centro de Literatura Portuguesa”. Coordinatore del progetto in corso “Literature, Imagology and Transnationalism: Representation of Migrations”. Coordinatore del progetto, completato nel 2011, con risultati pubblicati nel volume Imagotipos Literários: Processos de (Des)Configuração na Imagologia Literária (2011). Pubblicazioni: “Imagology and Relational Complexity: The Group Stereotype” , in Coutinho, Eduardo F. (ed.) Beyond Binarisms. Discontinuities and Displacements: Studies in Comparative Literature, (2009). Editor dei volumi: O Grotesco, 2005; O Fantástico, 2007. Co-editor of the volume O Século do Romance. Realismo e Naturalismo na Ficção Oitocentista (2013).

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