Writing as a Counterpoint to Forgetting: Testimony and Traumatic Memory in Cova 312

Abstract

This article starts from the work of the journalist and writer Daniela Arbex, entitled Cova 312, to address issues such as testimony and traumatic memories from the Brazilian dictatorship. For that, it uses the theoretical framework proposed by Agamben (2008) to debate the question of testimony, and Benjamin (1996) and Gagnebin (2009) to discuss the writing of history in the present time. Being the book composed by dozens of testimonies from militants who experienced the dictatorship period, it is understood that the author also operates as a witness to the history of Brazil, by listening to the traumatic reports of survivors of the military period. The testimonies provide a reflection about past and memory, in which issues such as access to truth and justice are intertwined with the possibilities of testimony and the writing of history in the present time.