SILENCES IN THE AGE OF TECHNIQUE: THE JOURNEY OF LENZ BUCHMANN

Abstract

This article analyzes the complex relationship between silence and death in the novel Aprender a Rezar na Era da Técnica, by Gonçalo M. Tavares, with an emphasis on the trajectory of the character Lenz Buchmann. From the perspective of the polyphony of silence, it explores the multiple layers of meaning that emerge from the unspoken, the narrative fragmentation and the violence that permeate the romance. It is argued that the death of Lenz, a surgeon obsessed with control and the denial of human fragility, represents the supremacy of silence over instrumental reason and the illusion of mastery over life. In Tavares's work, silence is not a void but a form of expression loaded with meaning, capable of revealing the complexities of the human condition in the face of death and the limits of technique. Le Breton's (1997), Orlandi's (2007) and Tofalini’s (2020) studies will provide the main theoretical support for this research.