The “way of sorrows” for the female body: tales of violence in brazilian literature from the perspective of women human rights

Abstract

This article aims at analyzing violence against women revealed in Brazilian literature under the perspective of the women human rights. It seeks a connection between literature, philosophy and law. In an interdisciplinary analysis, the article examines the constitution of a subject of rights through the concept of capacity developed by Paul Ricoeur, and applied to the still precarious condition of women. Some significant literary texts are examined about violence towards women, beginning with a reflection upon Lima Barretos´s thought, whose cry of nonconformity against the passionate crimes committed by husbands and relatives is echoed in various chronicles at the beginning of the twentieth century. The article also examines literature made by female writers, which appeared in the 1970s and reflected sharply the persistent brutality towards women. It concerns the promotion of human rights in relation to the violence against women, and the woman´s fight for recognition, a debate still necessary in spite of the social and juridical progress already achieved.