Weird girls in Meninas, by Maria Teresa Horta

Abstract

In Meninas (2014), the renowned Portuguese writer Maria Teresa Horta traces, among the thirty-two short stories which make up the book (of which we will analyze four), some stories where “o sobrenatural transgride as leis que organizam o mundo real” (ROAS, 2001. This happens in “Erzsébet” where the protagonist is growing up between his journeys from the castle of Léká, or from Sárvár to the castle of Csejthe, that he likes so much and with it, his strangeness. In “Perdições” little Esther makes very curious journeys every night which could well be dreams; walks through the forest, and through places as dark as the riddle that comes every morning. In “Transformação” the journey that the girl Dulce performs occurs through the books she reads, these will transport her and transform her into something amazing. In “Lupina”, it is the change of spaces that provides the ambiguity; Livia does not know who she is: girl or young wolf – maybe both. Thus, the purpose of this work is to show how these different trips set the fantastic and transform these characters into creatures that might be supernatural.