PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Castro, Paul Melo e
TI  - Clean Break, Tangled Lives
AID  - 10.3368/lbr.54.1.78
DP  - 2017 Jun 01
TA  - Luso-Brazilian Review
PG  - 78--101
VI  - 54
IP  - 1
4099  - http://lbr.uwpress.org/content/54/1/78.short
4100  - http://lbr.uwpress.org/content/54/1/78.full
SO  - Luso-Braz Rev2017 Jun 01; 54
AB  - This article analyzes the representation of December 1961 in two Goan short stories: the Portuguese-language “Rucmá, a mulherzinha de Salém” by Maria Elsa da Rocha and the Konkani-language “Guerra” by Sheela Kolambkar. I argue that these two stories avail themselves of the suggestive potential of the genre to represent Liberation not as a clean break in the socio-historical development of the territory, as it appears predominantly in the English-language literature of the territory, but as a discontinuity, which, in the wake of colonialism, left behind a tangle of undefined hopes, obscure fears and unsettled issues. Both “Rucmá” and “Guerra” represent the period prior to the Indian military action as a chronotope of uncertainty, which Liberation deepens rather than resolves. Writing post-1961, in a climate of growing tension during the democratization of Goa, the authors seem to advocate for social unity based on a recognition on the part of the two principal religious communities of Goa of a certain conformism in relation to colonial rule. In conclusion, I pose the question of whether this appeal to unity has a conservative function. The proposition underlying the article is that an internal literary comparatism, which juxtaposes the various languages of Goa, might shed light on attitudes concerning the main social facts and historical events in the territory.