Os fios da narrativa: entrelaçamentos do feminino nos contos “A moça tecelã”, de Marina Colasanti, e “A infinita fiandeira”, de Mia Couto

Abstract

This article aims to develop an intertextual analysis of the short stories “A moça tecelã”, by Marina Colasanti, and “A infinita fiandeira”, by Mia Couto, highlighting how both texts rework the metaphor of weaving to discuss autonomy and resistance within the feminine sphere. To this end, the study establishes dialogues—within the scope of intertextuality studies—between these two contemporary narratives and Greek myths associated with the act of weaving, such as Penelope, Arachne, Ariadne, and the Moirai, with the purpose of examining how these imaginaries, historically shaped by patriarchal perspectives, are resignified. The analysis indicates that, in Colasanti’s narrative, the loom functions as an instrument of identity affirmation and liberation, enabling the protagonist to create and undo her own destiny. In Couto’s text, the young spider transforms the act of spinning into an artistic expression and a form of contestation against the norms of her species and of human society. Both the Weaving Girl and the young spider convert the ancestral gesture of weaving into a metaphor for the reinvention of the feminine, shifting it from traditional roles of submission to spaces of creation, agency, and narrative potency. Thus, both stories rewrite the threads of tradition and grant their female characters the possibility of breaking the patterns historically imposed upon them.