O corpo-escrita contra as violências de gênero nas ficções de Vidal e Smanioto

Abstract

This dissertation investigates the representations of the female body and space in Mar azul (2012), by Paloma Vidal, and Meu corpo ainda quente (2020), by Sheyla Smanioto, analyzing how their writings rework the relationships between the violence inflicted upon female bodies through aesthetic experiences that we term body-writing, following Gomes (2024). The central hypothesis is that the female body carries both the marks of the archive of violence and the potential for reinvention, becoming consolidated, through the fictional creation of these authors, as body-writing. In Mar azul, the sea and water symbolize processes of purification and identity recomposition, as the protagonist inscribes pain and trauma into a corporealized writing. In Meu corpo ainda quente, the city of Vermelha and the domestic space are configured as environments of violence and oppression, in which the female body emerges as a site of denunciation and survival. Methodologically, this study is grounded in the concept of the body in women’s fiction proposed by Xavier (2007; 2021), who distinguishes between disciplined and liberated bodies under patriarchal logic; it also draws on Figueiredo (2019), who understands literature as a space for denouncing violence against women; and on Gomes (2021; 2024), who maps the spaces of gender-based violence regulated by misogynistic codes. Structurally, the dissertation is organized into three chapters: the first presents the critical reception of the authors and key concepts from feminist criticism; the second develops a comparative analysis of the works, highlighting the intertwining of body and space; and the third proposes a reflection on the transformation of the female body into a symbolic dwelling of a new language.