Abstract
The essay analyzes Rubens Figueiredo's book Barco a seco (2001) focusing on the conflict between the many narratives that are built into the novel through the mediation of the protagonist Gaspar Dias. The conflict occurs around Gaspar's desire to return to the past and build narratives based on realistic precepts, aiming at a unique and solid truth. Nonetheless, in order to achieve this he must resort to the act of creation, which establishes a distinct relationship to the idea of truth. To understand this contradiction, which generates the construction and deconstruction of the narrative cycle, the essay focuses its analysis on the ideas of Octavio Paz about the relations between the work of art and time, on the discussion that Andreas Huyssen proposes about the musealization of the past and on Marthe Robert's theory of the Bastard's story.
Keywords:
narrative; fiction; truth; desconstruction; Rubens Figueiredo