Female mystic aura ressignification in Agustina Bessa-Luís

Abstract

This paper intends to make a brief presentation of Agustina Bessa-Luís, introducing the author’s contributions to literature, with the objective of reflecting about the resignification of the feminine mystical aura by the analysis of the protagonists Quina from A Sibila (1954) and Eugénia Viseu and Silvina from the novel Eugénia e Silvina (1989). Furthermore, some theoretical positions on the Augustinian aesthetic project are presented, establishing relations between the female representation made by Bessa-Luís and the condition of women in patriarchal society. For that, we base ourselves on Beauvoir (2016), Bloch (1995), Coelho (1999), Fonseca (2017), Machado (1979), Moisés (2001, 2013) and others. By dealing with the feminine representations in her novels, Agustina Bessa-Luís provides a very important discussion about misogynistic stereotypes, favoring their deconstruction. In this sense, the aesthetic and literary project of Agustina Bessa-Luís, in our view, transforms the panorama of Portuguese fiction from the 20th century, and opens space for the writings that came later.