Cross the river and enter the house: um rio chamado tempo, uma casa chamada terra, by Mia Couto

Abstract

This work proposes a brief exploration of the book Um rio chamado tempo, uma casa chamada terra, by Mozambican writer Mia Couto (2003) and aims to analyze the representation of the trajectory of the protagonist Marianinho on his return to island Luar-do-Chão, a place full of secrets and mysteries, responsible for organizing the funeral of his grandfather, Mariano. With a peculiar poetic prose, the author reveals to us a mythical and mystical space, in which the recovery of traditions goes hand in hand with modernity, revealing how these elements are present in African culture and literature. A contemporary narrative in which the author mixes modernity and different traditions in the composition of the space and breaks with Western logic by substantiating the unusual and the wonderful in a hybrid reality that disobeys pre-established standards. For the analysis proposed here, especially the relationship between the subjects and the space in which they are inserted, we took as a basis study by Gaston Bachelard (1978) and Homi Bhabha (2005). It is a fiction that revitalizes Mozambican society through literature.