Connections between Author and Narrator-protagonist

Autofiction in Essa gente, by Chico Buarque de Holanda

Abstract

This article offers an analysis of the novel Essa Gente (2019) by Chico Buarque de Holanda and seeks to examine aspects of the narrative that show possible intersections between the author’s life and the story told. The assumption is that the novel, told in the first person by the main character, stands on the threshold between autobiography and fiction, falling into the category known as autofiction, a form of narrative quite popular nowadays. The hybridity of this type of self-writing invites the reader to a constant questioning about what belongs to the author’s life and what is fictional creation. The theoretical support for the discussion on the nature of the autofictional text will be taken from the work of Leyla Perrone-Moisés (2016), Karl Erik Schollhammer (2009), Serge Doubrovsky (2014), Luciene Azevedo (2008), Diana Klinger (2006), and Anna Faedrich (2015). The author creates an ambiguous and ironic story in which autobiographical and fictional elements intertwine, promoting a deep reflection on affective conflicts, social declines, historical scars, and on the turbulent Brazilian political situation from 2016 to 2019.

KEYWORDS: Essa gente; Chico Buarque; autofiction.