The narrative identity in Cartas a uma negra, by Françoise Ega, and Quarto de despejo, by Carolina Maria de Jesus

Abstract

Françoise Ega (1920-1977) met Quarto de despejo: diário de uma favelada and the author of this work, while reading the French magazine Paris Match, on the way to work. The trajectory of Carolina Maria de Jesus (1914-1977) and her work became elements of inspiration for the Antillean writer to develop Cartas a negra: narrativa antilhana. In it, Françoise Ega addresses a series of letters to the Brazilian writer, and shares with her your reflections, dreams and problems. The authors did not know each other, however, their existences converged in some aspects, such as identity. Therefore, this article aims to analyze how time and memory are articulated for the construction of the narrative identity of Françoise Ega and Carolina Maria de Jesus. The theoretical contribution is based on the works of Ricoeur (2010), for whom identity is a category of practice, because it prioritizes the ‘who’ of the action. In addition, the works of Candau (2021), Certeau (1998), Glissant (2021), among other authors.