“Os retornados” with Antunes: Luanda, Angola and Lisbon

António Lobo Antunes explores a forced encounter of a Portuguese diaspora with Africa for some settlers. He examines the nature of the bi-directional diaspora for “os retornados”, who, having returned to Portugal after independence of the colonies, found they were invisible in the eyes of Portugal, as portrayed in ‘O esplendor de Portugal’ and in ‘A história do hidroavião’. Luanda, Angola and Lisbon are depicted as spaces where each individual represents the reverse of the Portuguese colonial past. Antunes turns to historical facts as a source for a critical fiction. The prominence given to the experience of Africa and Portugal makes these books a valuable sociological document, illustrating that there was not much room left for any of these voices, neither in Angola, nor in Lisbon. Portuguese Language remains as their only space, which allows António Lobo Antunes the claim of a cultural dimension of these “retornados”.