De costas à justina: o processo penal em Coivara da Memória

Abstract

Based on the writings of Roland Barthes, this text argues that the expression “penal procedure”, contained in the title of this monograph, can be read in the Portuguese Language by means of a double perspective, because Coivara da Memória builds a narrative about the pursuit of a supposed crime and, metalinguistically, a narrative about the narrative. In the first situation, the word "penal" relates semantically to the legal sphere; in the second situation, it refers to the very act of writing the novel and signifies the writing process. This was evidenced from the attempt to answer the question: what is the construction of the penal procedure in Coivara da Memória? Contained in the work of Barthes, the concepts scripture and signification were highlighted in this study. In addition, an attempt was made to demonstrate that the fiction analyzed 'says' something about itself and the about Law, mainly due to results from the analysis of some characters that compose it. The ‘space’ that Justina, Ventura and Malaquias occupy in the structure of Dantas’s text allows to argue that these characters, each in their own way, allude to the Penal Procedure and the process of writing. Etymologically, this view is reinforced by the fact that these three names, if analyzed together, can offer interpretations on the Law and the Literature, which is why the approach to the characters was emphasized. Before concluding, the monograph emphasizes that the novel harbors other areas of knowledge and that to study it from the perspective presented here is certainly a choice that is subject, like all others, to reformulations.