Imagens do intelectual no Diário Íntimo de Lima Barreto

Abstract

In this article, we work on a fragment of the Intimate diary of the Rio de Janiero writer Afonso Henriques de Lima Barreto, giving priority to the analysis of two notes from 1908. The comprehension of the autobiographical narrative that underlies the analyses leads us not to the search for a supposed identity or a truth about the author of the text, but, more importantly, impels us to consider the account´s potential for moving “truths” and stereotypes, constructed and crystalized throughout the historical-literary process. In this regard, we try to capture, through the ambiguities and fragmentary nature of the Intimate diary, the peculiar manner in which the narrator, from his locus of enunciation, constructs and deconstructs self-images, especially those that are related to his profile as an intellectual, and executes movements in the hegemonic discourses on power. The reflections will mainly be based on the studies of Edward Said and Michel Foucault.