Diary of the Fall: From Memories of Anti-Semitism to the violent confrontation between two selves

Abstract

Based on assumptions of Literary Theory, Critical Theory and Psychoanalysis, this article presents an analysis of the autodiegetic narrator in the novel Diário da Queda, by Michel Laub. The analysis investigates the possibility of separating the je narrant and the je narré through the autodiegetic focus proposed by the theory of Gérard Genette, considering the idea that time operates an ideological shift between the narrators. Taking into account the presence of the stream of consciousness which reveals the mental process of the narrator of Diário da Queda and its traumatic history, psychoanalytic studies of Sigmund Freud are also relevant for this analysis. Furthermore, authors like Jeanne Marie Gagnebin, Ronaldo Lima Lins and Giorgio Agamben are also into the discussion. This analytical hypothesis indicates that, in the novel mentioned above, the je narrant, when admitting the enunciation (present), reveals features which are not noticed in the je narré (past) - and, thus, the time is considered to be responsible for this change between the two selves. Based on Gagnebin (2006), the impression is that the narrator-protagonist of Diário da Queda dives into its memories about its Jewish origins, trying to understand the past to act on the present, writing about the memories and, finally, being ready to try to overcome a painful past and move on.