Uma análise da escrita carcerária brasileira contemporânea

Abstract

Since the year 2000, books written by prisoners or men who were recently released from Brazilian prisons gained special attention in the cultural supplements of important newspapers and magazines in the country. This may be due to the prestigious publishing houses that released those books, or to the increased curiosity, at that moment, about life in prison. Writing in prison underlies ambivalences that seem to refer to the sociability of Brazilian prisons. When they narrate from the jail, incarcerated authors construct a perspective that is both in tune with that of the other prisoners - thus confirming their belonging to this group – and aiming to escape the limiting condition of prison. Examining this production – in particular, the books Memórias de um sobrevivente [Memories of a Survivor], by Luiz Alberto Mendes; Diário de um detento [Diary of a prisoner], by Jocenir; Vidas do Carandiru [Carandiru Lives], by Humberto Rodrigues; and Sobrevivente André du Rap (do Massacre do Carandiru) [Survivor André du Rap (from the Carandiru Massacre)], by André du Rap and Bruno Zeni –, this text will establish the specificities of this writing and the formal and thematic elements that characterize it.