XVII Congress of the Brazilian Studies Association

‘A house with a damaged roof and people living inside it’: Women’s Stories of Survival in the Work of Brazilian Writer Jarid Arraes

• In Event: Feminist and Ecocritical Readings of Contemporary Brazilian Literature

Abstract

This presentation will focus on the 2019 short story collection Redemoinho em dia quente by Jarid Arraes and will refer to other works by this Brazilian writer, including her cordel anthology Heroínas Negras Brasileiras. Arraes’ literary works underscore the importance of narrating the lives and stories of women who are underrepresented or deemed peripheral, often absent or forgotten. Arraes stitches these multifaceted stories of survival into a heart-rending and powerful fabric that becomes a compelling archive of collective memory and presence. This living archive—or “active memory” as defined by Eva Giberti—defies invisibility and resists erasure. This paper will rely on Maria Angélica Melendi’s Estratégias da Arte em uma Era de Catástrofes (2017) as a framework.

Author

• Marguerite Itamar Harrison, Smith College