Protagonismo feminino em contos de ficção científica de Aline Valek, Clara Madrigano e Camila Fernandes

Abstract

This dissertation is the result of the observation of the invisibility of literary writing in Portuguese by female authors in the science fiction (SF) genre and focuses on 21st-century Brazilian literature. Therefore, the general objective is to select and analyze SF short stories written by women in contemporary national literary production, observing, especially, the female protagonists and the constructions of gender in these figurations. The research corpus was constituted from an initial survey of SF short stories by female authors in contemporary Brazilian literature. In the present study, the fictions examined are: “Eu, incubadora” (2013), by Aline Valek; “Boneca” (2015), by Clara Madrigano; and “Feito bicho na lama” (2020), by Camila Fernandes. The analyses of the short stories are based on the interfaces of Literary Studies, Gender Studies and Feminist Criticism. To support the readings of the works, I initially start from reflections on speculative fiction, science fiction and dystopias (Atwood, 2011; Moylan, 2016; Oziewicz, 2017; Lima, 2022). Then, I observe the reconfigurations of female protagonism in the aforementioned stories, in light of the following authors and theoretical contributions that are explored in their interfaces with literary studies: Aline Valek and Lady Sybylla (2013) and Susana Funck (2016), regarding the genre of science fiction, especially by female authors; Joanna Russ (1995), Ursula K. Le Guin (1989) and Maria Tatar (2022), in their elaborations regarding female protagonism; Ildney Cavalcanti (2005), with an emphasis on the representations of female bodies in dystopias; and Adrienne Rich (1995), Susana Funck (1998), Cristina Stevens (2007) and tania swain (2007), on issues related to motherhood; Donna Haraway (2009) to construct a perspective on the figuration of the cyborg; Izabel Brandão (2003) and Donna Haraway (2023) to support reflections on ecofeminism. The results comprise an introductory panorama of Brazilian science fiction short stories written by women and reveal their formal characteristics and recurring themes. The study contributes to broadening feminist discussions regarding fictional representations, from a gendered perspective on the metaphors contained in the works. In addition, it promotes the visibility of literary productions written by women; finally, it provides an opportunity to expand the previous criticism on the highlighted works, specifically from the perspective of feminist studies.