XVII Congress of the Brazilian Studies Association

Emotion, Nation, and Affect: Brazilian Belonging in Daniela Arbex’s Todo dia a mesma noite

• In Event: The Kiss Nightclub Fire and Legacies of Trauma

Abstract

Five years after the Boate Kiss fire of January, 2013, Brazilian journalist Daniela Arbex published a narrative nonfiction account of the tragedy entitled Todo dia a mesma noite: a história não contada da Boate Kiss (2018). In Todo dia, Arbex adopts a narrative closeness that follows individual actors like protagonists in a literary work, portraying with intimate detail the experiences of medical professionals, Good Samaritans, and, especially, parents and families of the victims of the fire. The resulting vivid account emphasizes what these witnesses were feeling, framed in turn by Arbex’s emotional rhetoric. Though the emotionally charged tone of Todo dia certainly breaks with the conventions of journalistic impartiality, such a literary-adjacent style seeks to connect Brazilian readers to the reality of the “Tragédia de Santa Maria,” as it would come to be known, and, more importantly, make them feel responsible for its aftermath through the affective experiences of compassion and shame. Drawing on the ideas of Sara Ahmed and Lauren Berlant, I argue that Arbex’s narrative is rooted in the belief that a nation is not merely a collective that suffers tragedy together, but one that feels tragedy together. Finally, attending to what Ahmed calls the “emotionality” of the text allows us to weigh the ethical imperative to prevent similar tragedies against the ethical quandary of how to represent the pain of others.

Author

• Maggie Dunlap, Georgetown University