BEES ARE MESSENGERS: THE UNUSUAL AS A DEVICE FOR THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RADICAL OTHERNESS IN MARGARET ATWOOD’S MADDADDÃO AND DANIEL GALERA’S BUGÔNIA
Authors
Ânderson Martins Pereira
Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia Farroupilha
Ariane Ávila Neto de Farias
Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia Farroupilha
Luiza Prates dos Santos
Federal University of Pelotas
Abstract
The worsening of environmental crises and the collapse of exploitative anthropocentrism are driving a literature focused on the coexistence between humans and non-humans. This article analyzes the use of the unusual as a literary device in the construction of relationships between humans and bees in Margaret Atwood's O Ano do Dilúvio (2011) and MaddAddão (2019), and in Daniel Galera's short story Bugônia (2021), in light of critical posthumanism. It observes that bees cease to occupy a utilitarian role, integrating into communities based on communication, care, and relational survival, without fixed hierarchies. In this sense, the unusual destabilizes realistic pacts and challenges binaries such as human/animal and nature/culture. Furthermore, the protagonism of women as mediators of these bonds is highlighted, acting in the preservation of memory, care, and translation between worlds, contributing to the imagination of possible ethical futures in the face of environmental ruin.
Author Biographies
Ânderson Martins Pereira, Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia Farroupilha
PhD in Letters with an emphasis on Literary Studies, in the research line of Society, literary (inter)texts, and translation in Modern Foreign Literatures, at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), having been a CAPES scholarship holder. Holds a bachelor’s degree in Portuguese/English Language and Literature Teaching from the Federal University of Pampa (2012) and a specialization in Language and Teaching (2014), from the same institution. He earned a Master’s degree in Letters foccusing in Comparative Literature at the Federal University of Pelotas (UFPel), during which he was also a CAPES scholarship holder.
He is currently a Portuguese and English teacher at the Federal Institute Farroupilha (IFFAR), São Vicente do Sul campus. He also serves as Coordinator of the Distance Education specialization in Professional and Technological Education (EPT) of the Open University of Brazil (UAB), affiliated with the Federal Institute Farroupilha (IFFAR). His main research interests include Utopia, Dystopia, Transhumanity, and Posthumanity.
Ariane Ávila Neto de Farias, Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia Farroupilha
Translation into English:
She holds a PhD in Letters, with an emphasis on the History of Literature, from the Federal University of Rio Grande (FURG). She earned a bachelor’s degree in Letters, with qualifications in Portuguese, English, and their respective literatures, from the Federal University of Pampa (UNIPAMPA), as well as a master’s degree in Letters, with an emphasis on Comparative Literature, from the Federal University of Pelotas (UFPel). She is currently a Portuguese and English professor at the Federal Institute Farroupilha, Frederico Westphalen campus.
Luiza Prates dos Santos, Federal University of Pelotas
Translation into English:
She holds a bachelor’s degree in Visual Arts Teaching from the Federal University of Pelotas. She earned a Master’s degree in Letters from the Graduate Program at the Federal University of Pelotas, in the research line of Literature, Culture, and Translation, and is currently a PhD candidate in Letters in the same research line. She is a member of the Research Group Brazilian Fiction in the 21st Century and a participant in the research projects Brazilian Fiction in the 21st Century – Intertextuality and Interdiscursivity and Latin American Periodical Publications at Certain Moments of the 20th Century.
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How to Cite
BEES ARE MESSENGERS: THE UNUSUAL AS A DEVICE FOR THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RADICAL OTHERNESS IN MARGARET ATWOOD’S MADDADDÃO AND DANIEL GALERA’S BUGÔNIA . (2026). INSÓLITA - Revista Brasileira De Estudos Interdisciplinares Do Insólito, Da Fantasia E Do Imaginário, 5(2), 53-68. https://revistas.intercom.org.br/index.php/insolita/article/view/5228
