Ficção e história no romance africano de língua portuguesa: uma leitura analítica de Yaka, de Pepetela, e de O outro pé da Sereia, de Mia Couto

Abstract

This research aimed to discuss, in light of postcolonial literary studies, the representation of the colonial past of Angola and Mozambique in the novels Yaka (1988), by Pepetela, and O outro pé da sereia (2006), by Mia Couto, investigating how these works articulate fiction and history in the construction of national identities and in the problematization of Portuguese colonial historiography. The proposal is grounded in the theoretical formulations of the historical novel developed by György Lukács (2011) and later revisited by Fernando Aínsa (2003), particularly regarding this literary form’s resurgence in twentieth-century Latin America. The analysis also draws on studies of colonialism, especially the reflections of Frantz Fanon (2022), Albert Memmi (2007), and Marc Ferro (1996), considering the African contexts represented in the selected works. This study seeks to expand discussions on specific aspects of colonization as inscribed in the communities of both countries, contributing to a broader understanding of how dominant and often authoritarian historical structures may suppress or reshape local cultures and ways of life under colonial rule. Additionally, it engages with the critical contributions of Ana Mafalda Leite (2013) and Inocência Mata (2003), who conceive African literatures in Portuguese as spaces of resistance and historical rearticulation. Methodologically, a dialectical approach was adopted, understanding material reality as a dynamic and contradictory process, thereby articulating literature, politics, history, and society in the reading of the corpus. The results demonstrate that the novels critically engage with the colonial past, exposing actions carried out by colonizers, including the violence and traumas resulting from colonization and decolonization. It is concluded that the African historical novel constitutes a necessary space for aesthetic and critical intervention, contributing both to the rearticulation and to the preservation of collective memory; in this regard, the two novels analyzed stand as significant contributions.