TORTURE AND CONTAMINATION IN ADAPTAÇÃO DO FUNCIONÁRIO RUAM (1975)

Abstract

This paper offers a reading of the novel Adaptação do funcionário Ruam, published in 1975 by Mauro Chaves, taking into consideration two main strands: one that inscribes torture in a semiotic order – as theorized by Isabel Capeloa Gil (2016), and another which analyses the concept of contamination found in the novel through Foucault’s writings (1978; 1999), highlighting the ideas of madness and discipline. Illustrating the essay with scenes in which holographic projections, masculine desire and physical or psychological punishment reveal dialogues between dystopian fiction and the Brazilian dictatorial context, we expect to shed light on how literature can work as a projective space that forges alternative epistemologies.

Keywords: Brazilian Science-fiction. 1970’s. Military dictatorship in Brazil. Dystopian literature. Representations of violence.