Brazilian democracy among rats and vampires: rereading Lygia Fagundes Telles

Abstract The topicality of Lygia Fagundes Telles distinguishes itself throughout her literary production, given the approximations of her text with the political debate raised by the current context of the country. The issues present in the work of the writer from São Paulo gain clear contemporary contours in the imminent demolition of Brazilian democracy, threatened by the plots and the continuous coups warped by the national political elite. This article intends to couple the short-story “Seminário dos ratos”, published for the first time in 1977, with the narratives and images that plague our political experience of the present, reassembling the tradition of vampire stories, another figure that has strongly reappeared in this moment we live in.

摘要 莉吉亚·法贡德斯·特莱斯（Lygia Fagundes Telles）的文学创作始终彰显出鲜明的时代性，其文本与本国当下语境催生的政治辩论高度契合。这位圣保罗作家的作品中所承载的议题，在巴西民主濒临瓦解、受本国政治精英策划的阴谋与遭其扭曲的持续政变威胁的当下，愈发凸显出清晰的当代意涵。本文旨在将1977年首次发表的短篇小说《老鼠研讨会》（Seminário dos ratos），与当下困扰我们政治体验的叙事与意象相结合，重新梳理吸血鬼故事这一在当下强势复现的文学传统。