READINGS OF THE PAST BY FICTION:

A LITERARY VIEW OF THE BRAZILIAN COLONIZATION IN THE NOVEL A MÃE DA MÃE DA SUA MÃE E SUAS FILHAS (2002)

Abstract

This text presents an analysis of the Brazilian historical novel A mãe da mãe da sua mãe e suas filhas (2002), by Maria José Silveira. This novel approaches the story of a family along 20 generations. The focus is put upon the feminine characters once they represent the “view from below”, concerning those people who lived lots of the historical events but their voices remained silent in the official registers. Our intention is to reflect about the process of reading historical novels in the context of the final years of the Elementary school and also at High school. This could be done by introducing in this context the latest modality of this hybrid literary gender which classification was proposed by Fleck (2017) as the “contemporary historical novel of mediation”. In this way we, firstly, approach the studies about reading and its importance in school contexts, by using the theories written by Lajolo (1993), Zilbermann (2004), Silva (2005), Martins (2005) and others. Then, following the course, we focus upon the historical novel, under the support of theories like the ones written by Weinhardt (1994; 2011); Fleck (2017), and others, to evidence the formal aspects of Silveira’s (2002) work and specially to identify her novel as a model of the contemporary historical novel of mediation. We believe that the reading of this modality of historical novels can decisively contribute to a more conscious reader at school.