o diário íntimo como produto da cultura moderna

Personal writings date back to ancient times; however, writings as narratives about oneself can be identified since the European Renaissance, due to the birth of individualism. This article groups the main factors which have contributed to the birth and expansion of diaries as narratives about oneself, having an intimate and confessional character. It aims at showing that the centrality of the self is not a natural factor, but a social and historical construction. The notion of intimacy and the development of the private sphere of the bourgeois class, the need for confession, the sex being brought about for discussion and the search for life historization have helped the increasing expansion of intimate diaries, which reached their heydays in the XIX and XX centuries. Intimate diaries have become writings about oneself, aiming at capturing the historical narratives about oneself.