"Big I would not be:

The autobiographical narrative of publisher Maria Mazarello (Mazza Edições)

Abstract

We seek, in this article, to present an autobiographical narrative by book publisher Maria Mazarello, from Mazza Edições, who was the first registered publisher in Brazil with publications focused on Afro-Brazilian literature. As a black, poor woman, she faced several barriers to follow her path, including racism. We intend to identify in her discourse and let emerge signification marks that are sometimes stressed, sometimes silenced by racial prejudice. To this end, we highlight the contributions of Eni Orlandi (2007), in the book As formas do silêncio, which contributed to thinking and identifying silence as power, rather than a mere complement of language. We emphasize that silence should not be understood as emptiness, because silence is necessary, especially when we approach autobiographies. As Orlandi (2017) illustrates, silence would be what need not be said. Thus, we start out by asking: what is silence? How does it express itself? We realize that it is not transparent, it has its thickness and establishes significant complex processes (ORLANDI, 2007), as it is able to signify. When Mazza says, “We would not have tomorrow” and falls silent, a meaning power is established. On the other hand, we perceive evidencing in her speech, such as "We do not want to be black as kids". It is through these sayings and silences that there is a field of research that is still incipient and conducive to investigations opened up by Discourse Analysis and other areas. That is also why we propose some reflections.