DE PERNAS PARA O AR倒立
The article “De Pernas para o Ar,” by Mo Yan, explores the seemingly banal scene of a reunion among former classmates, narrated from an episode in a hotel lounge, in order to unveil mechanisms of power, social discipline, and desire underlying the “etiquettes” of everyday life. The argument departs...
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| Published in: | Review of Culture |
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| Format: | Articles |
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Instituto Cultural de Macau
2013
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| Online Access: | https://www.icm.gov.mo/rc/viewer/pdfViewerParts/40044/2414 |
| Summary: | The article “De Pernas para o Ar,” by Mo Yan, explores the seemingly banal scene of a reunion among former classmates, narrated from an episode in a hotel lounge, in order to unveil mechanisms of power, social discipline, and desire underlying the “etiquettes” of everyday life. The argument departs from the contrast between corporeality and gestures (the hasty rising, the laughter that commands conduct, the staging of Western courtesy) and the persistence of informal hierarchies anchored in language, nicknames, and complicity. Methodologically, the interpretation mobilizes close reading of discourse and social performance in the text: the analysis of the jocular tone, irony, and direct interactions reveals how authority becomes “natural” through minor impositions and ritual exchanges, culminating in tensions between submission, constraint, and resistance. As main conclusions, the article argues that the “ar” (air) of the title—associated with the act of inverting the body’s position—functions as a metaphor for moral instability and role reversal: those who appear to obey also participate in the control machinery, while laughter and protocol operate as instruments of social governance. Thus, the narrative transforms the fraternization into a historical-cultural microcosm, in which the past re-enacts relations of domination in the present. |
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| ISSN: | 1682-1106 |