“The construction” or the beauty of reading an entire Brasília

Abstract

Andressa Marques is a writer, professor, and PhD in Literature and Social Practices from the University of Brasília. Her debut novel, “A construção,” published in late 2024, is a powerful and poetic invitation to learn about the stories of workers who created, succumbed, and recreated themselves in the descendants that today transform Brasília and its often oppressive spaces. Centered on the story of Jordana, a quota student at UnB, the narrative is intertwined through times that intersect and complement each other in a single line of lives that continue and rebuild themselves. Between her private world, what Jordana discovers from the past to the present are the knots of several intertwined seams of the construction of a more democratized, but no less racist, Brasília.