Text, textile, tactile, transatlantic: the body, the territory and the violence staged by clothing in Portuguese language literature

Abstract

In several literary readings, one can notice that body and clothing are intertwined as enactors of social relations through characters. In this paper, I aim at inviting its readers to observe how three specific articles of clothing orchestrate scenes of violence against the bodies of the protagonists in three distinct territories according to social and historical outline. In order to do that, I will conduct an analysis-navigation of three short stories: Vavó Xíxi e seu neto Zeca Santos, by Luandino Vieira; Socorrinho, by  Marcelino Freire; Branca de Neve, by Lídia Jorge. Thus, we have Angola, Brazil and Portugal as the geographical locations that delineate the territories. The theoretical background traverses through studies about literary reading, Linguistics, social relations of power and strength, History, Geopolitics and Fashion Sociology.