Abstract
My reading follows the challenge the reader is confronted with, as a sort of enigma, at the beginning of the novel: «did the [UN] soldiers die? Were they killed?». Looking for an answer, it ponders those issues of life and death posed by the fictive world of Tizangara. Those concepts are understood by taking into account not only Walter Benjamin’s positions, in his Critique of Violence, but also the thoughts of both Emmanuel Lévinas and Jacques Derrida. They are helpfull to grasp what is at stake, from the vantage point of an ethical and political critique of violence, not only for father Muhando — the character that is the organizing principle of the entire plot, and whose vision seems to be heavily influenced by judaism — but also for key-characters such as the wizard Zeca Andorinho and the old Sulplício being, both belonging to the circle of those that are closer to him.
Highlights
My reading follows the challenge the reader is confronted with, as a sort of enigma, at the beginning of the novel: «did the [UN] soldiers die? Were they killed?»
Então, uma morte que se diria, por um lado, natural — pois eles morreram em consequência da sua cupidez, do ciúme despertado nos homens pela sua presença, junto das mulheres da aldeia
«Explodidos», os soldados se teriam resumido, por sinédoque, ao sexo «avulso e avultado» em que, deles sobrando, eles se resumiam afinal: esse seu «hífen carnal» (Couto, 2004: 31): pois «eles coitados, acreditavam ser donos de fronteiras, capazes de fabricar concórdias» (Couto, 2004: 12)
Summary
My reading follows the challenge the reader is confronted with, as a sort of enigma, at the beginning of the novel: «did the [UN] soldiers die? Were they killed?». Para dar a reconhecer os eleitos de Deus, Moisés servir-se-á, então, da diferença entre a morte natural e a morte divina — não sangrenta — como critério: Se esta gente morrer como todos os homens morrem; se o destino comum dos homens for também o deles, não foi o Senhor que me enviou; mas se o Senhor operar um fenómeno; se a terra abrir o seu seio para os engolir com tudo o que lhes pertencer, e se eles descerem vivos ao sepulcro, então sabereis que estes homens ofenderam o Senhor.
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