The Resizing of the Real by the Language in “Pomba Enamorada ou uma história de amor”, by Lygia Fagundes Telles

Abstract

In Lygia Fagundes Telles short story “Pomba Enamorada ou uma história de amor” the protagonist falls in love with the man she once danced with and, since then, she dynamizes her life around the possibility of such mutual love immersed in a historical and social context in which the ideals of love and gender oppression are intertwined. The character uses the available discourses in her culture (such as astrology, religiosity and tarot), to produce an alternative narrative to the unrequited love. This article takes a look at the use of the character’s discourse and analyses the account, contrasting the two narratives intertwined in the story: one from “Pomba Enamorada”’s narrator; and another one from the protagonist’s point of view “uma história de amor”. The basis for this analysis is Maria Jeanine de Miranda Salvaterra (2004), Luiza Lobo ([1997]), María Lugones (2014) and Roberto Reis (1992).