A silent scream : trauma and madness in the early works of António Lobo Antunes (original) (raw)

Intersection between Literature and Health Sciences, the current thesis is dedicated to the analysis of the early work of influential Portuguese novelist Antonio Lobo Antunes. His multifaceted roles - as psychiatrist, soldier and writer - inform his literary production, in particular the semi-autobiographical novels Memoria de Elefante (Elephantine Memory), Os Cus de Judas (Land at the End of Nowhere) and Conhecimento do Inferno (Knowledge of Hell), as well as his letters and chronicles. The thesis looks at the different ways in which Lobo Antunes' oeuvre articulates the different perspectives within the contexts of mental institutions and war. Issues such as trauma (individual and collective), PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and the cathartic role of writing are analysed in detail. The brutal and traumatic realities of war and post-colonial trauma are intertwined in the novels in the intricate and complex writing that is characteristic of Lobo Antunes. His writing ethos e...