Memory and trauma in contemporary female narrative: “Lice, Memory and Other Plagues” by Priscila Branco (2021)

Abstract

on the construction of memory and trauma within contemporary female narrative. The methodology used is bibliographic research guided by literary analysis. The study starts from a political-literary perspective, privileging the text as a manifestation of a collective social experience. The theoretical framework is based on authors such as Freud, Schopenhauer, Botella & Botella, and Ramos, who refl ect on memory, trauma, and the psyche. The analysis demonstrates how the story articulates elements of memory and psychic pain through a stream-of-consciousness narrative, in which the protagonist recalls, in a fragmented way, traumatic episodes from childhood. The textual structure and the narrative resources mobilized create an atmosphere that blurs the boundary between the lived and the remembered. The results indicate that memory, in this story, does not operate as a factual reconstruction, but as a symbolic reenactment of trauma. This research contributes to the study of literature authored by women, highlighting how contemporary narrative can elaborate on psychic experiences in an aesthetic and political way.