PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Rodrigues, Cecília
TI  - Identity, Body, and Displacement: Reconstructing Subjectivity in Tatiana Salem Levy’s <em>A chave de casa</em>
AID  - 10.3368/lbr.54.2.152
DP  - 2017 Dec 01
TA  - Luso-Brazilian Review
PG  - 152--168
VI  - 54
IP  - 2
4099  - http://lbr.uwpress.org/content/54/2/152.short
4100  - http://lbr.uwpress.org/content/54/2/152.full
SO  - Luso-Braz Rev2017 Dec 01; 54
AB  - The intersection of identity transformation and transnational mobility is a recurrent preoccupation in twenty-first century Brazilian literature. Tatiana Salem Levy dialogues with this debate in A chave de casa (2007) and additionally contributes to it by recognizing the importance of the body in the (re) construction of subjectivity. This paper analyzes the role of embodiment in the fragmentation and subsequent refashioning of subjectivity when Levy’s protagonist, a descendant of Jewish Turks who immigrated to Brazil, travels in search of both her family’s cultural heritage and her sense of self. Drawing upon the work of feminist scholars, I explore the fundamental role the body plays in mediating lived experiences and negotiating one’s place in the world.