THE AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOVEL IN MEU PÉ DE LARANJA LIMA

Abstract

This paper focuses on the analysis of the literary work Meu pé de laranja lima, in which the author José Mauro de Vasconcelos relates his own childhood through a child character. In the plot, however, there is the author’s alleviation and seeking for the recognition of readers, which according to autobiography theorist Philippe Lejeune (2008) configures the autobiographical pact that is given by the relationship between author, narrator and character. The confessional literature holds confessions and secrets of the authors; Maria Luíza Remédios (1997) explains that the public is interested in confessional literature because we have the tendency to identify ourselves with what is close to our reality, thereby establishing a pact with the reading public. During the work, the author may assume identities or self-sense, and in José Mauro’s case it is supposed he saw writing as an option for alleviation, by recalling his childhood and freeing himself from the past. Therefore, we confirm that this literary work is an autobiographical writing, and understand what the autobiographer looks for in writing about himself, and that this newest genre of writing is widely accepted by the public.