The (re) writing of history in Wierzchowski's fiction: a study of the political and social aspects present in “The boy who ate a library”

• Main Authors: Edemilson Antônio Brambilla, Ivânia Campigotto Aquino
• Format: Article
• Language: Portuguese
• Published: Universidade Federal da Grande Dourados 2020-11-01
• Series: Raído
• Subjects: política e sociedade. literatura de autoria de mulheres. leticia wierzchowski. segunda guerra mundial. imigração polonesa.
• Online Access: https://ojs.ufgd.edu.br/index.php/Raido/article/view/12163

The years that followed the second half of the twentieth century, from a literary perspective, contributed significantly to the emergence of fictional narratives of female authorship, whose themes detached, to a greater or lesser extent, from themes that had so far recurrent in this type of literary production, in a process in which the portrait of domestic reality started to give space to debates about political and social aspects.  It is from this perspective that the present study aims to analyze the reflexes of the Second World War in the work entitled “The boy who ate a library” (2018), by the writer from Rio Grande do Sul Leticia Wierzchowski.  Its fictional construction has, as one of its main characteristics, the representation of Polish immigration, as well as its memories and war traumas.  Thus, in this study, we pay attention to the way the author approaches the political and social issues of the period in her fiction, breaking, at least in parts, with the characteristics and limitations imposed on literary narratives of content linked to feminism.