A arte da memória: uma análise da escrita íntima de Anaïs Nin.

Abstract

On regard of intimate works, Anaïs Nin emerges as one of the most prolific authors, having written – and later published – journals between the years of 1914 and 1974. This extensive fictional report gave her a certain highlight within the feminist movement, while awakened criticism towards her narcissism. Consequently, her intimate material comes as an emblematic work concerning the strains within the fight for the women‘s rights. Because, even with a narcissistic and a passive political posture, Nin‘s stances went against the period values. This fact lead us to a question: how far the writer‘s behavior is as a political attitude, since it resisted the contemporary behavior patterns? Thus, this work aspires to analyze Anaïs Nin intimate writings, considering her representations concerning the feminine, public life, politics and art and her insertion within the writing‘s time; questioning the relationship between the intimate journals and the theories on the confessional genres and discussing the relationship between ―fictional‖ and ―real‖ amidst the writers memoir, as well as the use of Nin‘s private life in the makeup of her composition and, consequently, of her public figure. The main research sources were the unexpurgated diaries, which had a post mortem publication during the years of 1980 and 1990. The choice was not made only after the fact that these diaries are less censured versions of the writer‘s intimate work, but also after their coverage a period of time (1931-1939) in which Nin starts to show interest in the work‘s publication, as well as commenting art and politics in a deeper way. Thus, the universe built by this writer‘s journals will be analyzed, taking her historical insertion, aiming her representations on the relationship between the woman, the public and private spaces, art and politics.