ABSTRACT
The semantic oscillation of the term is so wide that it immediately exposes an ambivalence that might provide us with linguistic access to some of the substantive issues feeding the contemporary critical discussion regarding the victim, or rather its slippery use in terms of its representations. The victim historically occupies a prominent place in Brazilian literature. This chapter discusses the interpretation of victimization is based on works such as those by Philippe Mesnard, which describe the humanitarian landscape and the use of the victim as its fundamental element. It discusses how the imaginary of the victim, as in Mesnard's interpretation, was converted into an "instrumentum regni", which derives from a mythification—or a falsification—of the victim. The victim is located in the threshold of representation, outside any victimarius mythology, as seemingly exemplified through another victim. In some way, the victims find their own possible memorial of words.
