A catharsis in the mirror: Lobo Antunes’s Os cus de Judas

Abstract

The 1979 novel Os cus de Judas by António Lobo Antunes, is part of a trilogy with Memória de elefante ([1979] 2009) and Conhecimento do inferno ([1980] 2006), which he calls ‘the learning cycle’. It demystifies, in fiction, the official reports on the colonial war in an autobiographical elaboration. Dealing with the African colonial war, contemporary Portuguese society, alienation about the African events and the omissive silence among the upper classes, the narrative of a comeback is revealed by auto-reflexive reminiscence. The process, conducted by the Antonian narrator, constitutes a catharsis in front of the mirror, whose protagonist is a psychiatrist who speaks about, in and for himself from his childhood to the present. An overwhelming and vigorous writing introduces a new perspective into Portuguese literature in the historical period of post-25^th April, dealt with in current article.