Abstract
Within this dissertation, the Portuguese-language literary canons are thrown out the window in favor of the new and the now. Decidedly positioned in the twenty-first century, Daytripping in the Lusosphere: Twenty-First-Century Novels, Graphic Novels, and Animations in the Portuguese-Speaking World proposes a reconsideration of Lusofonia—the Portuguese-speaking world—through genres and media that have traditionally resided at the fringes of academic interest. New modes of storytelling—speculative fiction, graphic novels, animation—are paired with new modes of scholarship in this hybrid dissertation, which takes the form of three written chapters and five video essays. The first chapter focuses on the novels O amante é sempre o último a saber by Rui Zink (Portugal), Os transparentes by Ondjaki (Angola) and As lendas de Dandara by Jarid Arraes (Brazil) and considers what these novels reveal about the changing landscape of Lusophone literatures and cultures in the twenty-first century. Chapter Two analyzes two Brazilian graphic novels, Daytripper by Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá and Angola Janga by Marcelo D’Salete, focusing on the ways in which the graphic novel form can be utilized to critique racism and colonialism. The third chapter highlights animation as an art form with the ability to transcend physical reality and linguistic barriers in order to tell the uniquely transnational stories of Another Day of Life directed by Raúl de la Fuente and Damian Nenow, Michiko & Hatchin directed by Sayo Yamamoto, and O menino e o Mundo directed by Alê Abreu. Each of the five video essays takes up one of the books discussed in the first two chapters, providing a commentary aimed at a prospective general readership and analyzing the works’ translations where applicable. Several of these videos draw on the expertise of interviewed guests in order to provide the audience with a diverse range of voices and viewpoints.