The Autobiographical Writing of Maura Lopes Cançado as a Form of Resistance to the Early Disappearance of Women in Brazilian Society

Abstract

The present article analyzes the autobiographical daily Hospício é Deus: diário I (1965), by Maura Lopes Cançado, from the concepts of condition and ambivalence subject-object present in O segundo sexo (2009), by Simone de Beauvoir. In order that the analytical path could be made viable, Philippe Lejeune (2008) was used as the main theoretical reference in the concept of autobiography. The analysis was divided into three moments, the first being aimed at contextualizing the concepts of Beauvoir and the development of his autobiographical writing. Subsequently, a dialogue begins between the discussions proposed in O segundo sexo and the genesis of autobiography of Maura Lopes Cançado’s life, with an emphasis on the role of first-person narratives in transforming her condition in the social context to which she was inserted. Finally, autobiographical writing is presented as a form of resistance of the female perspective in a patriarchal society. Thus, it is intended to demonstrate how the publication of the autobiographical daily Hospício é Deus: diário I start off the female autobiography in this format and context in Brazil, also marking the interruption of superficiality and futility imposed by patriarchy on first-person narratives from the female perspective.