Kamouraska

paths to a feminine interior

Abstract

Québécois literature has much to contribute to francophone literary studies in Brazil through the important literary production of women, such as the award-winning author Anne Hébert. This author portrays, in her vast production, disturbed family relationships that oppose the conservative values of La Grande Noirceur. In Kamouraska (1970), the protagonist Elizabeth d’Aulnières, already in her second marriage to M. Rolland, lives through dreams and hallucinations the guilt of having planned the murder of her first husband, M. Tassy, together with her lover, Dr. George Nelson. Based on discussions of feminist literary criticism, this paper analyzes how the author manipulates the narrative structures of the novel, seeking to show that the reading takes us on a journey through the psychological interior of Elizabeth, which is fragmented into feminine social roles such as woman, mother, and wife, due to the oppression of a patriarchal society. This fragmentation is reflected in the novel, especially by the use of the three narrative voices, which represent and mix Elizabeth’s different roles, revealing that she wears a social mask to shield herself from guilt, not from murder, but from having followed her instincts.