This work will focus on an examination of textual evidence to show that Graciliano Ramos's Infância (2006) is the result of the author's long and arduous trajectory as an autodidact. That trajectory is represented in a narrative that describes Ramos's process of acquiring literacy. In the narrative, there is first a report on the cultural aspects from the author's original social environment, in which a process of disruption is triggered and leads to a stage of transculturalization. During this stage the author leaves his immediate cultural universe to acquire new knowledge and constructs for himself references that are external to his familial background, such as the practice of intense reading. To maintain this recently developed habit, Graciliano Ramos creates partnerships with individuals who can guide him along a path that will take him to other levels in his cultural journey.

In Infância, the final verification of the author as an autodidact is metaphorically represented by the short story "Pequeno pedinte", which is written by the protagonist. The content of the story is clearly autobiographical and alludes to a broader literary project in which the writer finds meanings for his entire career. The project referred to in the short story is Infância itself. Infância is constituted by memories of a past in which the author plays the role of the protagonist who learns to read and write and moves from one level of literacy to another.

To support my discussion of Graciliano Ramos's trajectory as an autodidact who writes an autobiographical account, I will first analyze the concept of autobiography in relation to Infância e Memórias do cárcere, considered by most critics to be autobiographical. I will then study Infância in terms of his literary work in general. The focus will be on the type of relationship that Graciliano Ramos's reader may establish with the narratives, whether biographical or fictional, and on the way that they can identify the autodidact's features in the autobiographer's trajectory.

I conclude in this work that the concept of autodidacticism can be extended to the individual who has not written an autobiography per se, but who has used other forms of narratives, either artistic or not, in prose or in a wide range of oral manifestations, such as ballads, songs, popular poetry, "repente", and rap, to express an autodidact/autobiographical model.