Writing on Walls with Her Feet: Abjection and Narration in Natércia Pontes's Os tais caquinhos.
This article focuses on Natércia Pontes's first novel, Os tais caquinhos (2021), which is narrated by Abigail, a teenager struggling with the departure of her mother who moved out of their family apartment with her two youngest daughters. Abigail's mother's departure precipitated the neglect of thei...
| Publicado en: | Revista Hispánica Moderna (0034-9593) Vol. 78; no. 1; pp. 53 - 68 |
|---|---|
| Autor principal: | |
| Formato: | Artículo |
| Publicado: |
University of Pennsylvania Press
Jun2025
|
| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=185994441&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 185994441 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00349593 3BJ5 jtl: Revista Hispánica Moderna (0034-9593) issn: 00349593 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Jun2025 vid: 78 iid: 1 pid: 4636 pub: University of Pennsylvania Press artinfo: ui: 185994441 10.1353/rhm.2025.a962252 ppf: 53 ppct: 15 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 270KB tig: atl: Writing on Walls with Her Feet: Abjection and Narration in Natércia Pontes's Os tais caquinhos. aug: au: Beal, Sophia affil: University of Minnesota su: Feminist literature Graffiti Mothers Abjection Affirmations (Self-help) Imagination Mother-daughter relationship sug: subj: Feminist literature Graffiti Mothers Abjection Affirmations (Self-help) Imagination Mother-daughter relationship keyword: ABJECTION BRAZILIAN LITERATURE FEMINIST NARRATIVE JULIA KRISTEVA NATERCIA PONTES TEENAGE AGENCY ab: This article focuses on Natércia Pontes's first novel, Os tais caquinhos (2021), which is narrated by Abigail, a teenager struggling with the departure of her mother who moved out of their family apartment with her two youngest daughters. Abigail's mother's departure precipitated the neglect of their apartment, and Abigail delights in recording the grotesqueness of her family home, which is infested with bugs and full of moldy objects that her father refuses to throw away. Engaging Julia Kristeva's conception of abjection, as well as theories about narration and feminism, I argue that Pontes employs first-person narration and an aesthetic of abjection to foreground imagination, emotions, senses, desires, and relationships to place and to one's body. By emphasizing a girl's playful and willful narrative voice, the novel underscores the value of girls' creative agency, unfiltered by external shaming. Pontes—by choosing this voice for her narrator—foregrounds an imaginative, unconventional girl who insists on approaching her experience beyond stereotypical labels or expectations. While the novel's content uncovers Abigail's isolation and catalyzes readers' empathy, what stands out most in Abigail's self-affirmation is her powerful stylized writing, characterized by humor, metaphors, irony, wordplay, and refusal to be startled by what makes others cringe. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of Revista Hispánica Moderna (0034-9593) is the property of University of Pennsylvania Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: Revista Hispánica Moderna (0034-9593) holder: University of Pennsylvania Press dt: @attributes: year: 2025 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
|---|