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Uma leitura do romance “Rio de sombras" de António Arnaut
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| 2.39 MB | Adobe PDF |
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Abstract(s)
Os romancistas também escrevem História e podem ser tão importantes como os
historiadores neste âmbito. Em Rio de Sombras de António Arnaut encontrámos uma parte
substancial da agitada História de Portugal, entre os anos de 1960 e final dos anos oitenta do
século XX. Nesta comunicação literária o autor conduz-nos pelos ambientes da sociedade
portuguesa sob regime ditatorial, leva-nos à antiga Alemanha Federal para a formação do
Partido Socialista e envolve-nos nos labirintos da vida associativa dos universitários de
Coimbra e de Lisboa entre as manifestações de vanguarda cultural, inquietudes e repressões
de família e da sinistra polícia política (Pide) e da Censura. O autor, numa narração
polifónica com a contribuição de um narrador contratado e do protagonista Afonso,
acompanha o eclodir da guerra colonial. No plano castrense percebemos como foi ganhando
forma, através de capitães insubmissos, o Movimento das Forças Armadas e a Revolução do
25 de Abril. E percebemos ainda como os cravos vermelhos, signos da Revolução, foram
algumas vezes mantendo a cor viçosa e, outras vezes, desbotando, tal como a esperança num
Portugal progressivo. A emancipação da mulher, o aumento da escolaridade, a melhoria de
infraestruturas, a criação do Serviço Nacional de Saúde que veio dar aos cidadãos o que eles
nunca tiveram - quem os apoiasse na doença -, são aspetos reveladores da diferença para
melhor, no país. Arnaut, advogado, político, escritor e maçon fala-nos de uma ética
republicana que deve pautar a vida pública e que também algumas vezes desbotou. O epílogo
de Rio de Sombras é agosto de 1988, mas o autor deu à estampa este romance em 2007. A
hemorragia demográfica e de serviços, em particular no Interior, a adiada regionalização,
uma corrupção que não foi estancada, “bolsas de pobreza” e dificuldades para alavancar
Portugal rumo a um progresso eficaz, económico e social, são aspirações que subjazem no
corpus deste romance. Embora Arnaut, através do protagonista, nos tenha mostrado pouco
mais do que uma dezena de anos após o 25 de Abril, projeta alertas e preocupações por não
se cumprirem ideais perspetivados e por alguma falta de ética na vida pública portuguesa: e
apela para uma ética republicana. Procurámos ler este romance como um livro de História e
ver esta fase da vida portuguesa comentada pelo autor. Apesar de refletir em cruas realidades
observáveis, Arnaut deixa plantada uma semente de esperança. O romance, na sua fragmentariedade, está inserido numa corrente estética pós-modernista e observámos os
requintados expedientes literários com que o autor disseca situações da vida entre o real e o
ficcional e que nos leva a enquadrar esta narrativa de cariz histórica e autobiográfica na
autoficção. Em conclusão: os escritores são ainda mais importantes para a sociedade se nela
tomarem parte como o fez António Arnaut com Rio de Sombras.
Novelists also write history and can be just as important as historians in this respect. In António Arnaut's Rio de Sombras we find a substantial part of Portugal's troubled history from the 1960s to the late 1980s. In this literary communication, the author takes us through the ambience of portuguese society under a dictatorial regime, takes us to the former Federal Germany for the formation of the Socialist Party, and involves us in the labyrinths of the associative life of university students in Coimbra and Lisbon between the manifestations of cultural vanguard, family restlessness and repression, and the sinister political police (Pide) and censorship. The author, in a polyphonic narration with the contribution of a hired narrator and the protagonist Afonso, follows the outbreak of the colonial war. On a military level we see how the Armed Forces Movement and the Revolution of the 25th of April took shape through unsubmissive captains. And we also see how the red carnations, signs of the Revolution, were sometimes keeping their vibrant color and at other times fading, just like the hope for a progressive Portugal. The emancipation of women, increased schooling, improved infrastructures, the creation of the National Health Service that gave citizens what they never had - someone to support them when they were sick - are all aspects that show the difference for the better in the country. Arnaut, lawyer, politician, writer, and Freemason, tells us about a republican ethic that should guide public life and which has also sometimes faded. The epilogue of Rio de Sombras is August 1988, but the author brought this novel to print in 2007. The demographic and service hemorrhage, particularly in the interior of the country, the postponed regionalization, the unstoppable corruption, the "poverty pockets", and the difficulties to leverage Portugal towards an effective economic and social progress, are aspirations that underlie the corpus of this novel. Although Arnaut, through the protagonist, has shown us little more than a dozen years after the 25th of April, he projects warnings and concerns over the non-fulfillment of the ideals he had envisioned and some lack of ethics in portuguese public life: and calls for a republican ethic. We tried to read this novel as a history book and see this phase of portuguese life commented by the author. Despite reflecting on crude observable realities, Arnaut leaves a seed of hope planted. The novel, in its fragmentary nature, is part of a post-modernist aesthetic current, and we have observed the exquisite literary expedients with which the author dissects life situations between the real and the fictional, which leads us to frame this historical and autobiographical narrative in autofiction. In conclusion: writers are even more important for society if they take part in it as António Arnaut did with Rio de Sombras.
Novelists also write history and can be just as important as historians in this respect. In António Arnaut's Rio de Sombras we find a substantial part of Portugal's troubled history from the 1960s to the late 1980s. In this literary communication, the author takes us through the ambience of portuguese society under a dictatorial regime, takes us to the former Federal Germany for the formation of the Socialist Party, and involves us in the labyrinths of the associative life of university students in Coimbra and Lisbon between the manifestations of cultural vanguard, family restlessness and repression, and the sinister political police (Pide) and censorship. The author, in a polyphonic narration with the contribution of a hired narrator and the protagonist Afonso, follows the outbreak of the colonial war. On a military level we see how the Armed Forces Movement and the Revolution of the 25th of April took shape through unsubmissive captains. And we also see how the red carnations, signs of the Revolution, were sometimes keeping their vibrant color and at other times fading, just like the hope for a progressive Portugal. The emancipation of women, increased schooling, improved infrastructures, the creation of the National Health Service that gave citizens what they never had - someone to support them when they were sick - are all aspects that show the difference for the better in the country. Arnaut, lawyer, politician, writer, and Freemason, tells us about a republican ethic that should guide public life and which has also sometimes faded. The epilogue of Rio de Sombras is August 1988, but the author brought this novel to print in 2007. The demographic and service hemorrhage, particularly in the interior of the country, the postponed regionalization, the unstoppable corruption, the "poverty pockets", and the difficulties to leverage Portugal towards an effective economic and social progress, are aspirations that underlie the corpus of this novel. Although Arnaut, through the protagonist, has shown us little more than a dozen years after the 25th of April, he projects warnings and concerns over the non-fulfillment of the ideals he had envisioned and some lack of ethics in portuguese public life: and calls for a republican ethic. We tried to read this novel as a history book and see this phase of portuguese life commented by the author. Despite reflecting on crude observable realities, Arnaut leaves a seed of hope planted. The novel, in its fragmentary nature, is part of a post-modernist aesthetic current, and we have observed the exquisite literary expedients with which the author dissects life situations between the real and the fictional, which leads us to frame this historical and autobiographical narrative in autofiction. In conclusion: writers are even more important for society if they take part in it as António Arnaut did with Rio de Sombras.
Description
Keywords
António Arnaut, 1936-2018 Serviço Nacional de Saúde Literatura Sociedade Gerações 1960/80 Política Pós-25 de Abril Corrupção Literature and Society 1960/80 generations Post April-25 Politics National Health Service Corruption