The reverse of the skin: an analysis in the light of the Historical-Cultural Psychology of Art

Abstract

Based on the Psychology of Art and Historical-Cultural Psychology, this article proposes a method of literary analysis aimed at investigating both the aesthetic experience and the conceptions of death in the novel O Avesso da Pele by Jeferson Tenório. The methodology developed brings together theoretical contributions from Vygotsky—especially his Psychology of Art—from Wolfgang Iser’s theory of aesthetic reception, and from Antônio Candido’s reflections on literature and society. The dialectical analysis made it possible to identify how the novel addresses death not merely as a biological phenomenon, but as a politically produced experience, shaped by necropolitical dimensions that influence both living and dying. The final considerations indicate that, although death presents itself as a universal reality, its essence is revealed in its reverse: a space of anguish, contradiction, and existential and social questioning. Thus, the encounter with death in the narrative unfolds through intense and ambiguous affects. The construction of the character Pedro and his relationship with loss mobilize the reader, as they seek to make sense of pain and mourning, navigating through the silences and voids of both human and literary experience.