Vidas secas (1938) is Graciliano Ramos`s last novel which was written after the author`s experiences in the prisions of the Estado Novo. This experience was judged essential to the organization of the book by the author himself. The article begins with a discussion of the sense of ethical and aesthetic exigencies of the novelist. It endeavours to describe the organization of the novel, beginning with the combination of short stories which were originally autonomous works. Then it examines the episode "Baleia", where the problems of domestication and rearing are discussed. It finishes with the analysis of the tension between the talk of Utopia and critical realism.
Literature and experience; Ethica and aesthetic; Novel; Domestication and rearing; Utopia and critical realism
