JOÃO ANTÔNIO: THE GAME OF THE NARRATIVE VOICE AS A TRENCH AGAINST THE DICTATORSHIP

Abstract

In this article, we aim to show that the critique of authoritarianism in the work of journalist and writer João Antônio was mainly done through the voice of the trickster hero, nocturnal and gambler, partner of idleness and despised by society, granted by the attentive and complacent gaze of the narrator who, between the 60s and 90s - a period that includes the 21 years of Military Dictatorship in Brazil (1964-1985), lived the trickery and was able to tell it to the reader. Experiencing the nightlife, João Antônio managed to bring to many of his texts the originality of speaking about the marginal world in a lyrical bur also reflective way, leading the reader not only to the upside-down reality but also to the game of his unique way of storytelling, which is the magic of his narrative. Pool players, street boys, beggars, prostitutes and other marginal characters assume the voice in the author's work and parade their own language. The narrative voice, thus, seems to forms a trench of confrontation with authoritarianism, not because it represents political prisoners or activists, but because its subaltern characters stubbornly survive the adversities of an authoritarian and unjust regime that invisibilizes those who live on the margins. To achieve this goal, we have chosen the short story "Cais" (1975). Regarding authoritarianism, we will draw on studies by Aníbal Quijano, Nelson Maldonado-Torres, Walter Mignolo and Luciana Ballestrin, starting from the concept of Coloniality, a consequence of the authoritarian colonialism exercised not only in Brazil, but throughout Latin America.