Intertwined narratives in “The Longest Bridge in the World”, by Domingos Pellegrini

Abstract

This paper analyzes the short story “The Longest Bridge in the World”, by Domingos Pellegrini, focusing on how the literary narrative and the historical narrative intertwine with one another. Published in 1977 as part of the author's first book, the collection The Red Man, the tale recounts the experiences of two electricians in the construction of the Rio–Niterói bridge, in Rio de Janeiro, in 1974. The narrative focuses, therefore, on a factual event, giving, however, a fictitious treatment to it.This essay looks into the affinities and differences between literature and history, exploring how the historical event is reimagined in a ficcional narrative that depicts possible feelings and thoughts of those involved in the episode. The paper also examines how the author's aesthetic choices – characters, a distinctively colloquial style, a fast narrative rhythm – work together to build a verisimilitude effect which invites the readers to rethink the events of the past, reconfigure them at the present time, and advance their understanding their own historicity.