B. KUCINSKI'S EXPANDED STAGE

MEDIA, PERFORMANCE AND THE ETHICS OF MEMORY IN 'OS VISITANTES'

Abstract

In the age of mass culture and digital media, the author’s function expands beyond the text, turning them into a performer in the public space. Starting from this premise, which is part of the debate on the return of the author, this article investigates the authorial performance of Bernardo Kucinski. To achieve this understanding, the contemporary author and the visibility devices of media culture are discussed, based on theorists such as Lejeune (2014), Groys (2017), and Aguilar and Cámara (2017). Subsequently, the construction of the figure of the auctor B. Kucinski is observed, in line with the concept of authoriality by Maingueneau (2010). Finally, Os visitantes (2016c) and its autofictional structure (Doubrovsky, 2014; Colonna, 2014; Klinger, 2012) are analyzed, its narrative functions as a staging of the author, of the critical reception, and of the conflicts of traumatic memory. It is concluded that Kucinski uses this expanded performance to fulfill an ethical function, transforming literature into a stage for debate and an instrument against the forgetting of the atrocities that occurred during the Brazilian dictatorial regime.