In the words of the decimated

In the literature of Pernambuco-born Micheliny Verunschk, language research is as important as narrative. In fact, it is from this investigation that prose and plot emerge.

Like "The Sound of the Jaguar's Roar" (2021), winner of the Oceanos and Jabuti awards, his most recent book, "After the Thunder," is a historical novel. As is typical of the genre, the past serves to illuminate the present and inform us of the movement of the historical narrative.

Contemporary times allow—and, to some extent, even encourage—the deconstruction and reconfiguration of classics. And, in this case, the most immediate reference for anyone reading the book may be a 19th-century literary genre known as Indianist, the best-known work of which is José de Alencar's O Guarani.

In her response to past literature, the author takes as her starting point the episode known as the Barbarian War, when the Portuguese crown, in the 17th and 18th centuries, launched expeditions to decimate the native peoples of Northeastern Brazil. This historical event is an important element of the narrative, which stars Auati, the son of an Indigenous woman and a Jesuit friar.

While still young, the boy is taken by his father on one of his evangelizing missions. Faced with the atrocities he is forced to participate in, Auati ends up reinventing himself as someone else, named Joaquim Sertão.

AFTER THE THUNDER. Micheliny Verunschk. Companhia das Letras (232 pages 79.90 reais)

The name, of course, wasn't chosen at random. The Sertão region that crosses the country is the central setting for both the narrative and the trajectory of Auati, who, through his participation in historical moments—whether as a victim or a perpetrator of violence—builds his own identity.

Micheliny combines languages such as traditional Portuguese, Tupi-Guarani, São Paulo Nheengatu, and the Tapuia languages – spoken by natives who did not communicate in ancient Tupi – to delve into a world marked by the diversity that Portuguese colonization attempted to stifle.

For the reader, it's a challenge to enter into this relationship that transitions between languages and is consolidated by this combination. But it is through this relationship that the writer, in addition to telling a story, shares experiences from the past and, at the same time, confronts us with the present, in which indigenous peoples continue to face various threats.

This option, which accounts for the power of After Thunder, requires an active reader who enjoys being provoked. •

Published in issue no. 1375 of CartaCapital , on August 20, 2025.

This text appears in the printed edition of CartaCapital under the title 'Let the decimated speak'