'On the nauseating turpitude there was a lot of pure things': depersonalization and affirmation of the subject in 'Memories from Incarceration' and 'The House of the Dead'

Abstract

Villainy and purity are noticed by Graciliano Ramos in Ilha Grande prison. Thrown in to an unknown, hostile and dehumanizing environment, the author registered in his memoires the systema-tic denial of prisoner’s rights and dignity. In their misery, the incarcerated are described as “cattle” or “ghosts”. Cohabiting with common criminals, from completely different social and cultural backgrou-nds, Graciliano Ramos experienced estrangement but also new encounters. In The House of the Dead Dostoevsky finds himself in a similar position, noticing and registering “purity” mixed with “villainy” among the incarcerated in Siberia, who fight to preserve their lives and affirm their personalities. This paper establishes a comparison between the two author ́s prison memoires. Both of which discuss the question of denial of human dignity on one hand, and on the other hand prisoner’s resistance and stru-ggle to live and to affirm their humanity in brutal and restrictive circumstances.