The heart of the metropole: Urban space and interracial relationships in ‘Fidelidade’ by Vimala Devi, ‘Um Encontro Imprevisto’ by Henrique de Senna Fernandes, and ‘Nina’ by Orlanda Amarílis

This article looks at the Lisbon-set stories ‘Fidelidade’ by Vimala Devi, ‘Um Encontro Imprevisto’ by Henrique de Senna Fernandes, and ‘Nina’ by Orlanda Amarílis, all of which dramatise a dead-end relationship between a colonised man and a metropolitan woman in the final years of Portuguese colonialism. It analyses how these narratives use the resources of the short story to challenge the colonial discourse of Lusotropicialism, hegemonic in Portugal in the years following the Second World War, and – via the spatial and interpersonal deixis of their ‘intermediate elite’ protagonists – inscribe the experience of colonised subjects on the margins of the imperial capital and reflect on the dynamics of identity affecting their home territories. This article concludes by arguing for a broad comparative practice that can bring a much-needed perspectivism to key issues in postcolonial studies in Portuguese and animate neglected parts of the worldwide Portuguese-language literary archive.