Pelos caminhos da fantasia e da utopia: uma análise de “País nenhum”, de Shaun Tan

Abstract

This paper analyzes the illustrated short story “No other country” by Australian author Shaun Tan. The narrative analysis is carried out by examining the categories of fantasy and utopia, with the focus on the narrative space and environment, and also on the relationship between verbal and non-verbal languages. The methodology follows a bibliographical approach, based on literary analysis and criticism. Regarding its theoretical foundation, the present study relies on the reflections by Gregory Claeys, Lyman Tower Sargent, Michel Foucault, Tom Moylan and Ruth Levitas on utopia; by Rosemary Jackson on fantasy; by Cândida Vilares Gancho on the narrative space and environment and by Shaun Tan and Aline Evangelista Martins on the relationship between verbal and non-verbal language. The purpose of this work is to analyze the dimensions of utopia and fantasy present in this narrative, and to observe the metaphors related to the intersection between these two categories; to focus on the narrative categories of space and environment, because it is through this figuration that the planes of fantasy and utopia are fictionally constructed; and to examine how the interconnection between verbal and non-verbal languages operates in the process of narrative construction. The study offers a contribution to the field of literary studies, more specifically regarding short stories, and to the studies and reflections on utopia in contemporaneity, as well as to expand the critical fortune on Shaun Tan's work and to raise his visibility here in Brazil.