Vague light of writing: memory, document and instinct in Gonçalo M. Tavares's "Diário da Peste".
Gonçalo Tavares; Diário da Peste; archive; memory; writing.
This work approaches the construction of memory in the Diário da Peste, by Gonçalo Tavares, a work published virtually over ninety consecutive days – from March to June 2020 – and printed in 2021 under the title Diário da Peste – The Year of 2020. Written during isolation due to the 2020 pandemic, Diário da Peste records not only the days, but simultaneously consigns thoughts about the work, about the events and about the life of the one who writes. It is shown how this diary, driven by a global event, operates as a kind of archive, a memory of the world, not being restricted to the daily life of Gonçalo Tavares – as the use of the word “diary” might lead to believe. From aspects related to memory, documents and the experience of that moment, it is intended to present the way in which they appear and are articulated in the texts of the Diário da Peste, in order to bring them closer to Jacques Derrida’s archival theory, present in Archive Fever: a freudian impression. This approach aims to establish a link between the processes of creation and digital archiving of the Diário da Peste as significant factors for literary production. This proposal is linked to Line IV – Edition, Language and Technology – of the Postgraduate Program in Language Studies (POSLING) as it aims, with this approach, to reflect and to make a possible advance in the study of cultural and cultural relations that permeate the discursivity of the creative and editing processes of contemporary languages.