e-ISSN: 2448-1939 REVISITANDO TERRA SONÂMBULA: SOBRE O INSÍLIO EM CONTEXTO PÓS-COLONIAL

This study presents a narrative review of the literature on Sleepwalking Land, the first novel by Mozambican writer Mia Couto. The aim of this work is to assess the academic attention given to this novel and to identify its research potential concerning the themes of geographical and intimate diaspora in a postcolonial context. Based on research on studies developed to date, using both quantitative and, especially, qualitative methodologies, it is concluded that these themes have not yet been sufficiently developed in relation to this work by Mia Couto. In this sense, some lines of research are presented that point to the territorial and psychological displacement of the characters in an aggressive environment as a consequence of the civil war. It is concluded that the atmosphere of violence and helplessness leads the characters to exile within their own country, an exile that is sometimes geographical but, above all, interior, which leads from isolation to madness. In this sense, we analyze their trajectories in light of the notion of “insilio.”