Camilo and the Construction of the Novel

Abstract

- From his very first novels, CamiloCasteloBranco sought to establish secure codes which,though appearing to subvert implicit rules, were in fact meant to safeguard the legitimacy of hisnarrative discourse while at the same time giving the impression of engaging readers in lightconversation. Thus, the opposition at play between what is true and what appears to be true, as wellas between the forced linearity of reading and discursive transgression take on a relevant role in thework of the author from Seide. This tension promotes the construction of novels that constantly seemto question the validity of the diegetic level when compared to the principles revealed in para texts orwithin the plot. Camilian discourse is thus ironically structured around a continuous ambiguitybetween saying and doing, while its ingredients unequivocally direct the reader towards the interestsof the narrative. Aníbal Pinto de Castro (1976: 47) had already stressed that this process ofmanipulation and the consequent excess of justification are indeed common inCamiloCasteloBrancos narrative and they create an ironic overtone which is hard to ignore. WhenCamilo makes explicit reference to narrative construction processes, he is implicitly alluding tocultural codes that readers are supposed to know and which they will easily identify. Readers arethus in a position to better understand the game they are being invited to play and which works intwo ways: while seemingly legitimizing narrative freedom, it actually reveals observance of the canon.