My name is Legion. Literature and Genealogy in António Lobo Antunes

The present contribution seeks to examine the topic of “national identity and literature” by focusing on how a collective – family or nation – is constituted by a number of “power relations.” These “power relations”, in turn, are produced, or created by the collective as a whole and could be said to represent the frontiers of the group at any given time. When these considerations are brought into a work of fiction, it becomes clearer that the relations in question are of a discursive nature. Discourse is power and, as such, disciplinary of both of the collective as well as of each individual within the group. As an example of this kind of discourse, the analysis focuses on the novel, O meu nome é Legi o, by Portuguese author, António Lobo Antunes.