Razão ao avesso: uma análise da representação da loucura, dos loucos e dos manicômios em Cemitério dos Vivos e Diário do Hospício, de Lima Barreto e Um Estranho no Ninho, de Ken Kesey

Abstract

The following work is a result of the comparison between Lima Barreto’s Cemitério dos Vivos [Graveyard of the Living] and Diário do Hospício [Journal of the Asylum], and Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. The focus is on the ways madness, the insane, and the mental institutions are represented in such books. The investigation stems from the narrative of the author’s living experiences in regard to the system imposed by science, through literary and testimonial texts. Throughout the years, the topic of madness has trailed different paths, and discussing it is necessary to question history, the system, and how both reflect upon human social behavior. This study demonstrates how madness serves as a common ground to understand different cultures and how it signals the imposition of the environment upon humans. This point is what leads this discussion, as well as the investigation around madness which, despite not having one concrete definition, is highly relevant to understand humans and their social place.