Abstract
The memory of childhood, in a country under military rule, feeds the narrative of Noite dentro da noite [Night Within Night]. Although anchored in the dictatorship of 1964, the novel also evokes the periods before and after it, capturing the barbarism of an “age of extremes” through the filter of an apocalyptic and prophetic vision. Moving away from a realistic representation, it privileges the expressionist transfiguration of successive genocides, in scenarios where characters evolve in extreme situations. This article will highlight the nihilistic perspective of the novel which represents the agonizing existence of these beings through the multiple allegorical images of the labyrinthine and gloomy landscape of the Pantanal jungle.
Keywords:
Noite dentro da noite; military dictatorship; violence; post-memory; traumatic inheritance