Breve panorama da literatura moçambicana. A contemporaneidade de Mia Couto no conto " A avó, a cidade e o semáforo"

Abstract

Mozambican literature is one of the literatures that have been highlighted in the scope of portuguese-language African literatures. José Craveirinha, Noémia de Sousa, Virgílio de Lemos, Rui Knopfli, Lília Momplé, Luís Bernardo Honwana, Albino Magaia, Calane da Silva, Luís Carlos Patraquim and Eduardo White are just some of the names which compose the wide range of writers and poets related to this literature in particular. In Brazil, Paulina Chiziane, considered the first Mozambican novel female author, what she denies, affirming she´s just a storyteller, and Mia Couto, are among the writers studied the most. Therefore, this research aims to, besides presenting a brief overview of Mozambican literature, some traits related to contemporaneity of Mia Couto´s narrative, focused on tradition/modernity dichotomy, through analysis of the tale named “A Avó, a Cidade e o Semáforo”, inserted in the book entitled “O Fio de Missangas” (2004). Research was based on theorists as Patrick Chabal (1994), Alfredo Margarido (1980), and Russel Hamilton (1984,) who provide a panoramic view upon Mozambican literature; Maria Fernanda Afonso (2004), upon Mozambican tale, particularly; Ana Mafalda Leite (1998), upon orality and writing on African literatures, among other names that appeared along the work and were properly documented. At the end, it was possible identifying how tradition of orality and modernity are revealed in the tale studied, not as opposition or rupture, but rather as dialogue, through an adequacy of tradition to the new world of modernity in a proposition of maintenance of tradition as pillar of African culture. Method used was based on a direct treatment of literary texts and bibliographic research.