Atlantic Women in Motion: Ana Miranda’s and José Eduardo Agualusa’s Postcolonial Historical Novel

Abstract

This paper proposes a comparative study of Desmundo (1997) by the Brazilian Ana Miranda and Nação crioula (1997) by the Angolan José Eduardo Agualusa. The analysis focusses on the configuration of the protagonists of both novels. These protagonists transit the Atlantic Ocean which is characterized by symbolic exchanges and intense cultural contact: respectively a marriageable maiden who is compelled to immigrate to Brazil in order to strengthen the Lusitanian presence in the tropics, confirming the body of the white woman also as an instrument of European merchant machine, and a former slave and rich owner who becomes the embodiment of anti-abolitionist struggle in a mixed race Angola, confirming once again the body of the black woman as a slave trade merchandise.