Inside and beyond the black drama: the diaries of Lima Barreto and Carolina Maria de Jesus

• Grant number: 18/04925-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: November 01, 2018
• End date: February 29, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Literature - Literature Theory
• Agreement: Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES)
• Principal Investigator: Marcos Piason Natali
• Grantee: Fernanda Silva e Sousa
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This project aims to elaborate readings and comparative analyses of Diario Íntimo (1953) and Diário do Hospício (1960), by Lima Barreto, and Quarto de despejo: diário de uma favelada (1960) and Casa de alvenaria: diário de uma ex-favelada, by Carolina Maria de Jesus, through the development of the notion of black drama, along with other theoretical contributions. The aim is to investigate the strategies of self-invention used by these authors, who reconstruct and formalize different aspects of the social and subjective experience of negro drama in their diaries, considering the awareness of the impact of living in a society characterized by racial inequality. In this universe, figurations of what is called "time of slavery", either as a remembrance or as recognition of the past in the present, will be analyzed. Lastly, there will be made an analysis of the dreams, desires, projects and affects insinuated in the diaries, which invite us to rethink the limits between universal and particular, human and black. In other words, to think inside and beyond the black drama.Key-words: diary; race; afro-Brazilian literature; Lima Barreto; Carolina Maria de Jesus; slavery.