On the creation of Porto Alegre's Jewish character in Michel Laub's Diary of the fall

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the creation of the Jewish character from the city of Porto Alegre in the novel Diary of the fall by Michel Laub (2011) considering the character’s cultural background and the importance of Judaism and Porto Alegre to the narrative. By referencing studies on character creation by Luiz Antonio de Assis Brasil (2019) and James Wood (2017) and, on Jewish identity, by Moacyr Scliar (1985), Elizabeth Roudinesco (2010), and Amós Oz and Fania Oz Salzberger (2015), the article investigates the way in which the novel’s character relates to intergenerational interaction, as well as to individual and collective traumas. It also reflects on the role of writing in transmitting Judaism across the three generations of men in the character’s family.