Jews in Moacyr Scliar’s fi ction: an example of hybridism

Abstract

Following the ideas developed by Edward Said’s Reflections on Exile and Other Essays and Tzvetan Todorov’s L’homme dépaysé, the paper analyses three characters by Moacyr Scliar: Mayer Guinzburg (or Capitão Birobidjan) in O exército de um homem só (1973) and Benjamin and Jayme Kantarovich in Os leopardos de Kafka (2000). Mayer and Benjamin lose their previous identities when they settle down in Brazil and behave as if they were banished and not adjusted to the new emvironment. Jayme Kantarovich, although born in Brazil, does not seem to belong to any social group and his identity is split into many pieces. The paper argues, thus, that the concept of hybridism as proposed by Todorov is the concept that better explains the characters’ behaviour.