The Anti-Diary: On Teolinda Gersão's Os Guarda-Chuva Cintilantes

Abstract

To include a book in a certain genre implies that it conforms to previously determined discursive constants. The originality of the work of Teolinda Gersão resides precisely in its radical break with a genre of long-standing traditions and, at the same time, in its explicit reference to a necessarily codified universe. If we are able to overcome the feeling of strangeness conveyed by the lack of obligatory markers (such as the absence of years or months), the construction of a fragmented discourse, sinuous even, gains relevance, and we can detect undeniable indicators of femininity. Life writing that escapes the canon without however forgetting the flow and/or obsessions of a saying of the mind, Teolinda Gersão's anti-diary is undoubtedly an example of a feminine trend marked by heterodoxy and transgression