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 莉吉娅·法贡德斯·特莱斯（Lygia Fagundes Telles）的全部文学创作始终彰显出强烈的时代属性，其文本与巴西当前社会语境催生的政治论辩高度呼应。这位圣保罗籍作家作品中呈现的议题，在巴西民主制濒临崩塌的当下愈发凸显出清晰的当代意涵——这场民主危机正遭受本国政治精英操纵的阴谋与持续政变的裹挟威胁。本文旨在将1977年首次刊发的短篇小说《老鼠研讨会》（Seminário dos ratos），与当下困厄我们政治体验的叙事与意象相结合，重构吸血鬼故事传统——这一叙事符号在我们所处的时代再度强势复现。