"The left leg waste a mass of flesh and crushed bones, linked by miracle to the rest of the body

the excluded as monsters in portuguese neorrealism

Abstract

This article starts from the correlation between the concepts of commu- nity and immunity, from its common radical munus, proposed by Roberto Es- posito, in the book Bios – Biopolítica e Filosofia, to think how the whole idea of community is made not only from of a notion of mutual belonging, but also of exclusion from the different. Throughout the history of both political and literary representations, this figure of the excluded appeared in different ways, very com- monly characterized in different types of monstrosities. My objective in the present work is to explore the biological senses and the legal-political implications of the representation of the Werewolf as monstrosity in the literature, discussing how the beings represented as aberrations, especially the figure of the werewolf, not only put in tension what is conceives as a human being, but allows to account for the proper functioning of the politics of societies, a focus that is of interest to Portu- guese neorealism. Thus, I intend here to discuss, in the first place, the relationship between the representation of biological monstrosities and the possibility of dege- neration of the social body, as proposed on the basis of racist theories that under- pin authoritarian regimes during the 20th century. Then, specifically discuss the figure of the werewolf and its implications in political theory so that, in order to be able to resume the polyvalence of the sign of the werewolf in the novel Casa na Duna, by Carlos de Oliveira.