RECONFIGURATIONS OF DOMESTIC SPACE IN VERMELHO AMARGO: BODY, MEMORY, AND TOPOPHOBIC EXPERIENCE

CORPO, MEMÓRIA E EXPERIÊNCIA TOPOFÓBICA

Abstract

This article is situated within the field of spatial and literary studies, articulating phenomenology of space and humanistic geography to analyze the construction of domestic space in the novel Vermelho amargo, by Bartolomeu Campos de Queirós. It aims to understand how the house, initially configured as a symbolic center of intimacy is progressively reconfigured in the narrative as a result of maternal loss and transformations in family relationships. The analysis shows that domestic space ceases to function as a stable shelter and becomes marked by a process of affective depletion, in which body and memory assume a central role in inscribing absence. It also identifies the emergence of a silent topophobia, which reorganizes the relationship between subject and space and reshapes the experience of dwelling. It is concluded that, in the novel, abandonment is not merely an effect of loss, but a structuring condition of the narrative experience and of the protagonist’s subject formation, highlighting the centrality of space in the production of meaning.