The possibilities and limitations of representation of time in a short-story by Graciliano Ramos

Abstract

Both philosophy and literature looked for, during the last century, the overcoming of conventional, collective time, towards the time of world, or time of consciousness. The concern gave origin to many literary techniques that try to represent time. These techniques are commonly linked to Bergson, even though the French philosopher demonstrated the impossibility of representation by the consciousness of real time. Heidegger also insisted on the necessity to handle conventional time to arrive to effective things time. Graciliano Ramos undertakes, in the short-story “O relógio do hospital”, an experience of inner monologue that intent to represent this effective time, but that ultimately illustrates the unrepresentative nature of this, as pointed out by Ricoeur. This failure causes the literature create new mechanisms of representation, supported by the contractual relationship with the reader.