Escrita e sobrevivência em Cartas da prisão (Frei Betto): o absurdo como origem e deslimite

Abstract

This master's thesis represents the search for a narrative. We aim to demonstrate that there is a story behind a set of apparently unrelated stories and that what bundles these stories is not only the symbolic description or records of an important period of the history of Brazil, but also, despite its incipient literary load, the path a man must necessarily follow in order to accomplish his journey under the absurdity of the world. When we think about writing and surviving in Cartas da prisão [Letters from prison], by Frei Betto, we try to identify, in this tug-­‐of-­‐war, in what measure would there be a movement of dynamic balance of the origin of the author in the denial of death. For the high degree of subjectivity we aim for here, Roland Barthes' concept of Neutral has proved to be an efficient methodology, having provided us with the attribute of the impasse and, therefore, the right to news paths, the access to surprising answers and, above all, a sparkling creative-­‐critical-­‐aesthetic experience, to use an expression of Barthes himself. The lucidity that ties Sisyphus to his destiny under the huge rock of his condemnation or Camus to his human rebellion in face of the race condemnation is of the same order of the one that connects Betto to literature and which represents his only real possibility of achieving true freedom: through consciousness