O INSÓLITO EM LYGIA FAGUNDES TELLES:

UMA ANÁLISE DOS CONTOS “AS FORMIGAS” E “A PRESENÇA”

Abstract

The aim of this research is to analyze the manifestation of weird aspects in the short stories “As formigas” and “A presença”, by Lygia Fagundes Telles, both first published in 1998, in the book Seminário dos ratos. We observe that these weird elements appear here, mainly, from dubious situations, which leave the reader apprehensive, asking himself if the facts are coincidences, unusual, but believable, or supernatural events. Thus, we can consider the two stories as fantastic, reading them through the theoretical ideas of Tzvetan Todorov, since there is a hesitation from a supposedly inhuman event that is not clarified. We are also guided by the theses on the short story made by Ricardo Piglia, which shows that a short story always tells two stories, a “visible” story and a “secret” one. With this in mind in Lygia Fagundes Telles' short stories, we understand that the “secret” narrative, which is built in the interstices of the first, is about the possibility of the supernatural.