Travessias (Oct 2011)
QUARTO DE DESPEJO – MANIFESTATION OF THE FEMININE DISCOURSE IN BRAZILIAN LITERATURE
Abstract
This article aims at analyzing the work Quarto de despejo: dirio de uma favelada (1960), written by Carolina Maria de Jesus, intending to point to its relevance as a possibility for writing history from the female perspective. Taking the diary of Carolina as a manifestation of a marginalized group in history, we investigate how the author, while a poor woman, and a semi-illiterate favela (slum) resident, uses the literary writing to portray the environment in which she lives and to reflect about it. Therefore, we verify that the authors autobiographical text is especially impressive considering that it allows the writing of history from a female perspective, becoming a space of accusation of the inhuman conditions that women are not rarely exposed to as an all through muted group.
