António Lobo Antunes: Production and Consumption of Subjectivity

António Lobo Antunes (1942-) is one of Portugal’s leading contemporary authors, whose reputation as a world-class writer is confirmed by the number of publications, translations and dedicated readers. The present article is concerned with his latest novel, O arquipélago da insónia, or The Archipelago of Insomnia, if translated into English. The text represents a great challenge insofar as reading and understanding of contemporary literature is concerned. As in several of his earlier works, Lobo Antunes continues to explore the limits of narration and readability by experimenting on narrative structure and voice. The focus of my analysis is the organisation and structure of the work, which I regard as autopoietic, or self-generating. I intend to look at how the various voices, or subjectivities in the novel relate in a productive, but also consumptive fashion, in order to maintain the continuous process of making literature.