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Ellipsis 2005
Cartographies of Desire: An Approach to Lídia Jorge's O Jardim sem LimitesKeywords: Lídia Jorge , Portuguese literature , film and literature Abstract: In this paper, I examine the use of classic Hollywood film in Lídia Jorge's fiction, drawing particularly on her novel O Jardim sem Limites. This study draws on the theories of Deleuze and Guattari, to examine the incorporation of film as an art form and as a form of mass communication and consumption. Weaving a narrative by continually unweaving it, Lídia Jorge uses the images of cartography and/as rhizome to characterise her writing, which thus effects a movement of de/reterritorialization. Consequently her text lends itself to being read through Deleuze and Guattari's notion of “nomadic art.” I discuss how storytelling can be used in fiction and cinema in an anti-representational mode to mobilise what Deleuze and Guattari call “the powers of the false.” These “powers” are examined in the novel as a narrative strategy for subverting traditional modes of representation as Lídia Jorge uses the invention of a group of people to reflect on Portuguese society in the late 80s. Finally, I argue that Deleuze and Guattari's concept of “nomadic art” is given not only a political, but also an ethical function, which is clearly evinced in O Jardim sem Limites.
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