The Reality Effect in Solução de Dois Estados by Michel Laub

Abstract

Solução de Dois Estados is a contemporary novel that captures the intolerance present in Brazilian society. Amid the political polarization in Brazil over the last decade, Michel Laub writes a story about two siblings who cannot reach an understanding, portraying a relationship marked by resentment, violence, and hate. This work aims to observe how the author produces a reality effect in his book, which appears to be based on two distinct strategies: 1) its hybrid structure, for which this paper relied on Krysinski ([2004] 2012) regarding hybridity in literature; and 2) the presence of repetitions associated with traumatic realism, understood through Foster ([1996] 2005). Barthes (1972) and Rancière (2010) are referenced regarding the concepts of reality effect. For the methodology analyzing hybridity, eleven book fragments were classified by style and textual genre. To analyze the traumatic realism present in the novel, passages containing repetitions in the main characters' speeches are highlighted and discussed. The study concludes that the book produces a reality effect, primarily through the hybridization of fictional and non-fictional text, as well as the persistent presence of traumatic repetitions throughout the plot.