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“Os Grão-Capitães” as a short story sequence: Paratextuality, imagery, and the contours of a literary genre

Antonio M. A Igrejas, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Abstract

Considering Os Grão-Capitães: uma sequência de contos by Jorge de Sena belongs to a literary genre not well studied, led to my motivation to research the elements that make this collection a short story sequence. Sena’s book is, as far as I am aware, the only Portuguese language book titled by its author as a “short story sequence.” Consequently, the present study aims to discuss the theoretical principles of this genre, as well as the structural and thematic elements that render this volume as an integrated collection. Jorge de Sena’s book utilizes various aesthetic elements that enable its conceptualization as an integrated collection of short stories. In this context, I study Sena’s book as a paradigm of the short story sequence genre and analyze the elements of paratextuality, with carceral and desolation imagery within the Estado Novo society, which integrate the different, yet interconnected, stories into one organic whole. Thus, I study how the nine stories comprising this book explore plots that complement each other and provide the collection with a narrative integrity that only the “short story sequence” genre allows.

Subject Area

Modern literature|Romance literature|Ethnic studies

Recommended Citation

Igrejas, Antonio M. A, "“Os Grão-Capitães” as a short story sequence: Paratextuality, imagery, and the contours of a literary genre" (2012). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI3545941.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI3545941

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