Memórias dilaceradas: o sujeito-operador e o impacto do trauma em Os cus de Judas, de António Lobo Antunes

Éderson Cabral; Daniel Conte

doi:10.15448/1984-7726.2025.1.48458

Authors

Éderson Cabral Feevale University, Novo Hamburgo, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3393-8340
Daniel Conte Feevale University, Novo Hamburgo, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4251-3299

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15448/1984-7726.2025.1.48458

Keywords:

Operating-subject, Os cus de Judas, Colonial trauma, Memory, Invisibility, Marginalization

Abstract

This article analyzes the figure of the subject-operator in Os cus de Judas (Land at the end of the world: a novel), by António Lobo Antunes, exploring the complex dynamics of colonial trauma and the marginalization of ex-combatants, as represented by the narrator-protagonist. The text discusses how this character, situated in a context of war, is silenced and rendered invisible by Portuguese society, which denies his experiences and memories. The monumentalization of human suffering is confronted by the refusal of recognition, exposing the wounds left by colonialism. The subject-operator emerges as a hybrid figure, symbolizing the struggle between technique, power, and the impact of war on identity and social relations. Through an interdisciplinary approach grounded in critical literary analysis and theoretical reflection, the study engages with relevant theorists such as Alain Wisner, Gayatri C. Spivak, George Canguilhem, Giorgio Agamben Roberto Vecchi and Yves Schwartz, providing a foundation to investigate the dynamics of memory, trauma, and identity, with an emphasis on the erasure and marginalization of former soldiers in postcolonial society.

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Author Biographies

Éderson Cabral, Feevale University, Novo Hamburgo, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.

Doctorate in Cultural Processes and Manifestations from FEEVALE University, with a sandwich period at the Department of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures, University of Bologna - UNIBO; Master's degree in Applied Linguistics from the University of Vale do Rio dos Sinos - UNISINOS; Specialist in Spanish Language from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul - PUCRS; Bachelor's degree in Portuguese/Spanish Literature from UNISINOS. Has experience in teaching Portuguese, Spanish and their respective Literatures. Currently, her areas of concentration include the following themes: contemporary literature; literature, work and citizenship; literature and testimony; aesthetic interventions and experiences (interface with cultural products and sound textures), decolonial speculative poetics, literacy and linguistic literacy/ELE, continuous learning classroom. In addition, she completed a Post-doctoral internship in the research project entitled "A brief trajectory of Brazilian literature combined from the perspective of work", under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Ernani Mügge, linked to the Postgraduate Program in Cultural Processes and Manifestations, from August 2021 to August 2023. Currently, he is developing the project “Exploration of languages, artistic creation and new media with artificial intelligence in the Creative Industry” (2024-2027) in the Professional Postgraduate Program in Creative Industry, under the supervision of Daniel Conte; in addition to being a doctoral candidate in Literature Studies at PPGLET-UFRGS. Besides his academic and teaching activities, he is a cultural agent, poet, and essayist. Finally, with his literary creations, he has already received several awards, the main one being the Literary Challenge (2023, 2nd place; 2024, 3rd place), organized by the State Book Institute (IEL/RS).

Daniel Conte, Feevale University, Novo Hamburgo, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.

Believes in a secular society in which each individual has the freedom to narrate themselves from their imaginary condition. He is a CNPq Research Productivity Fellow and Full Professor at the Institute of Human and Social Sciences, in addition to coordinating the Postgraduate Program in Cultural Processes and Manifestations at Feevale University. He is a member of the Advisory Committee for the Interdisciplinary area (2025-2027) of the Rio Grande do Sul Research Support Foundation, where he served on the Advisory Committee, serving as vice-coordinator of the Arts, Letters and Linguistics area (FAPERGS - 2019-2024). He is an ad hoc reviewer for CAPES, CNPq, FAPESP (São Paulo), FAPESC (Santa Catarina), FAPES (Espírito Santo) and FAPERGS (Rio Grande do Sul). He holds a PhD in Brazilian, Portuguese, and Luso-African Literature and a Master's degree in Comparative Literature, as well as a degree in Portuguese-Spanish Language and Literature from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul. He is a permanent professor and researcher at Feevale University, working in the Graduate Programs in Cultural Processes and Manifestations and Creative Industry. He supervises undergraduate research fellows (CNPq and FAPERGS). He is a Visiting Professor in the Postgraduate Program in Letters at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, in the research area of Post colonialism and Identities. As a researcher, he is affiliated with the research groups Languages and Cultural Manifestations and Creative Industry (Feevale University) and SUTRA – Subalternities, Transculturality and Decolonial Perspectives (UFPE), in addition to being a reviewer and member of the editorial board of important scientific journals in the country. He is a member of the Brazilian Association of Comparative Literature (ABRALIC), the American Portuguese Studies Association (APSA), the International Association of Lusitanists (AIL), the Deutscher Lusitanistenverband (DLV) and the International Association of African Literary and Cultural Studies (AFROLIC). Has experience in the field of Letters with an emphasis on Literatures in the Portuguese Language, working on the following themes: Literary Comparativism, Literature and Economics, Literature, Colonialism and Post colonialism; Myth and Literature; Literature, History, Identity and Intertextuality; African Colonial Wars. Has regularly published his research through scientific articles, chapters and books.

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