Colonialities and subalternities: a decolonial analysis of Memórias de minhas putas tristes

Abstract

The goal of this article is to understand how subaltern and colonial conditions / or expressions are present in the work Memórias de Minhas Putas Tristes, de Gabriel García Márquez. We take off from the understanding that the book's atmosphere and characters development reflect colonial ideologies, thus, implying examples of subalternities and colonialities which constitute colonized territories and contemporary societies. We ground this study by proposing a critical analysis of classical literature, supporting and active and actual reading. To do it so, we base ourselves on Hall (2016) thinking literature as a cultural practice and Gomes (2015) locating the cultural reader as an active part in the literary text understanding. Also, we make use of decolonial (QUIJANO, 2005; LUGONES, 2014; VERONELLI, 2015) and subaltern (SPIVAK, 2010) studies to expose the colonial processes influence in the work. The analysis points out that the relation between story atmosphere and characters ends up in a submissive state through overvaluation of the Eurocentric culture, of a racial division of labor, of oppressive language and of different subalternities condition imposed on colonized subjects.