A Body to Make Luanda: The Black Woman from the Countryside in Angolan Literature.

In this article, I examine how the image of the black woman from the countryside who moves to Luanda was developed at three key moments in Angolan literature as a means of constructing national identity. I focus on three prose works: Alfredo Troni's Nga Mutúri (1882); António Cardoso's short story "Linda," from A Casa da Mãezinha (1980); and Fragata de Morais's short story "Martinha," from Momento de Ilusão (2000). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]